s8 Let's do this Right!
by EmberXMystery
Summary: Season eight except with a well done Klance, Adam's back, and the plot line makes sense nnd is what everyone would theorize.
1. Episode 1

Episode 1~

"It almost seems like they are hinting at some kind of romance between Keith and Allura," Hunk commented, making light of the show made about the paladins.

"What!?" Lance cried, standing up and slamming his hands down on the table. "No, no, no! It's shouldn't be Keith and Allura! It should be—"

Lance cut himself off, stopping midway through and sitting back down, burying his head in his folded arms.

"Ooh!" Hunk murmured, resting his head in his hands, propped up on the table. "I see we're getting a love triangle here."

"Mmh," Lance murmured in protest.

"Have you asked Allura out yet?" Hunk asked, raising his eyebrows.

Lance kept his face buried, not replying.

"Oh, I see," Hunk said, the playfulness in his voice retracting. "You did ask her and she rejected you."

"No!" Lance protested. "I-" he stuttered, not knowing what he wanted to say. "I- I don't know that I _want_ to ask her out…"

He blinked furiously, trying to get the fog in his brain to clear out.

"I thought you liked Allura?" Hunk asked.

"I mean, I do!" Lance said. "And I… I just don't know!"

"Is this about Romelle?" Hunk asked, sighing.

"No," Lance said with certainty. "Romelle is a good friend but I don't like her like that."

"Okay! Then you should ask Allura out! Tonight's the last night, buddy!" Hunk encouraged.

"Yeah… I guess," Lance conceded half-heartedly. He almost just wanted to spend his last day on earth with his family. They were approaching a war after all… there was no guarantee he would see them again. But then again, this was his last chance with Allura… though… he just didn't feel right about asking her out. It didn't seem… _right_.

After Shiro's announcement that they all take the night off, everyone was walking out of the meeting room, Hunk and Lance side by side, when Hunk grabbed Lance by the arm and pulled him out to the side.

"This is your chance!" Hunk told Lance. "You've got this! Just speak with confidence!"

"W-wait!" Lance futilely tried to protest until Hunk was shoving him forward so that he was pushed through Romelle and Allura who were talking to each other.

"Um… hi." Lance murmured awkwardly.

"Oh! Hello Lance," Allura said kindly while Romelle waved.

"I- um…" Lance trailed off, his eyes wandering to where Hunk was standing a few paces back, waving his arms for Lance to continue. "I was wondering if…"

Lance returned his gaze to Allura who was smiling kindly at him, her eyes a beautiful, crystalline blue. She really was pretty.

"I was wondering if you would like to join me for dinner…" Lance murmured.

"Uh…" Allura hesitated.

In that moment, Lance spoke up again. "Hunk and I were planning on putting together a final family and paladin get together. Would you _two_ like to come?"

Lance made a point of not looking at Hunk as he waited for their responses.

Romelle clasped her hands in front of her face and beamed at him. "That's a _wonderful_ idea, Lance! I would love to meet everyone's families! Allura, let's go!"

"I don't know," Allura hesitated. "We have to watch that Altean…"

"Oh relax!" Romelle smiled. "I think that this will be good for you!"

Allura hesitated another moment before nodding and agreeing. "Alright, that sounds fun to me."

"Thank you!" Lance smiled as he walked back towards Hunk while Allura and Romelle moved on, chatting about how they were going to get to meet everyone that they had heard the paladins talking about.

Lance grinned sheepishly at Hunk as he got closer and saw his friend's face resting in the palm of his hand. "Laaaance," Hunk moaned. "You were supposed to ask Allura out on a date! Not invite _everyone!"_

"Yeah… but I want to have one last group dinner!" Lance tried to say, playing it off like it was intentional— Like he hadn't just epically messed up.

"Sigh," Hunk said out loud. "I guess that means I'll be baking all afternoon."

"But you like baking!" Lance protested.

"Yeah… you're right," Hunk conceded before changing the topic abruptly, "So! My whole family can come right?"

"Yeah. You can invite whoever you want."

"Okay! Sounds good…" Hunk told Lance before leaning closer to scrutinize his face. "You have to tell the other paladins though. I'm going to be baking."

"Yes, yes," Lance said, waving Hunk off. "I've got it covered."

Lance wandered around the Garrison first, searching for any of his fellow paladins to talk to. He specifically kept an eye out for anyone with a mullet.

"I wasn't aware that humans could float?" Romelle asked, sounding confused from inside one of the doors.

Lance opened up the sliding door and was met with a botany room with Pidge, Allura, Romelle, Colleen, and Beezer standing around.

"No… grounded just means I can't leave my mother's side," Pidge mumbled.

"That's because it isn't responsible for fifteen-year-olds to go off on their own into space," Colleen said slyly.

"OH!" Pidge shouted, "Well, APPARENTLY, finding my BROTHER and saving my FATHER from an intergalactic TYRANT doesn't get me a PASS!"

"Not on your life!" Colleen retorted.

"Please, Colleen," Allura pleaded, "It's our last night on Earth. We would like to get Pidge prepared and have Pidge help us prepare as well!"

"You are invited, too!" Romelle reminded Colleen. "And we swear that we will not let Pidge leave the ground once."

Colleen raised her eyebrows, her arms crossed as she thought. "All right. But only because I know how much Pidge hates shopping. And social gatherings."

"Thanks!" Romelle said as Allura picked up Pidge and began to carry them out of the room.

"Lance!" Allura said, surprised as she turned to find Lance, awkwardly hovering in the doorway.

"Um, hi…" Lance murmured. "I was just coming to find Pidge and Colleen. But I see that you have already found them."

"Yep!" Romelle said cheerily. "Found both and now we are going shopping! Would you like to come?"

"No… I'm going to find the others," Lance told them.

"Okay. Sounds good," Allura told him, smiling.

Lance nodded and turned to leave, letting them disappear behind him.

As Lance continued walking down the hallway, he passed by Shiro, looking at a screen held in his robotic hand while he worked with his other to type notes onto a screen on the wall.

"Hi, Shiro," Lance said as he walked up behind him.

Shiro started, looking around with his eyes wide until he noticed Lance and calmed down. "Lance… um, hi," he murmured, straightening his garrison uniform to regain composure. "You startled me."

Lance rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Yeah.. sorry. I was just coming to look for you.. And the others. Hunk and I are planning on doing a huge family dinner thing tonight. Allura, Pidge, and Romelle will be there along with Colleen and Hunk's family. We were kind of hoping to just have a big meet-and-greet with the paladins and their families."

Lance cut himself off, realizing that he was just rambling at that point. "What I'm asking is: Would you like to go?"

"Sure!" Shiro said, smiling. "I think that would be a lot of fun."

"Do you have any family you want to bring?" Lance asked. "We're welcoming anyone. Moms… dads… any girlfriends…"

Shiro chuckled lightly, throwing Lance off guard. "What's funny?"

"Oh, I'm just thinking about Adam," Shiro smiled wistfully. "He always loved showing up with me to places and surprising people that we were in a relationship."

"What?!" Lance said, grinning. "You're dating someone?"

"My boyfriend, Adam… well—"

"Boy...friend?" Lance said curiously before a huge smile broke out on his face. "That's fantastic Shro. You never told us you had someone special to you in your life."

"Yes," Shiro said, somewhat awkwardly. "Well…"

"You never told us that!" Lance interrupted.

"Well… Adam and I… we broke up before I left for Kerberos," Shiro said, his face falling into a frown.

"Really?" Lance said, stupefied.

"Yeah, we were about to get married but… with me leaving we broke it off and then… and then…" Shiro's voice cracked slightly and he lowered his head to the ground before he looked up into Lance's eyes. "And then he died… while we were away."

"Oh no!" Lance whispered. "Shiro… Shiro I'm so so sorry!"

A breath of silence fell over them. Lance took a step closer and placed his hand on Shiro's shoulder.

"Thank you, Lance," Shiro croaked, wiping at his eyes with his arm. "I… I just wish I could have said goodbye."

Lance bit his lip, not knowing what to say. "Shiro… Shiro I—"

"It's fine, Lance. Really. I would love to go to the dinner with everyone."

Lance nodded and took a step back, turning to leave. He hesitated and turned back towards Shiro, running the few paces towards him to envelope him in a hug. "That is absolutely awful," Lance whispered. "I'm so sorry and you are _so_ strong for going through all of that and still being here to fight with us."

Shiro laughed lightly, returning Lance's embrace. "I don't know that I was given much of a choice on the 'returning' part… but thank you, still, Lance."

"Anytime, Shiro."

"Coran?" Lance said uncertainty as he opened the door and walked in.

"Yes my boy?" Coran asked, putting down some gadget Lance didn't recognize.

"Um… so tonight we are doing a big dinner with everyone. Do you want to come?" Lance explained to him.

"Who's going to be there?" Coran asked suspiciously.

"Romelle, Pidge, Shiro, Hunk, and Allura and their families, if they can come," Lance said slowly.

"And your family is going to be there?" Coran asked, his interest piqued.

"Yeah! I'm actually pretty excited to show Allura and the others my family. I mean everyone knows Veroni—"

"What?!" Coran yelped. "The princess is going with you to meet your family?"

"I… I guess… It's almost like a date…" Lance said nervously.

"Out out out!" Coran said, shoving Lance out of his room. "You have to ask my permission formally. I can't believe you just asked her first instead of _me_ , her guardian."

"I—" Lance tried to say but what a door slamming in his face before he could do anything about it. Reluctantly, Lance sighed and knocked on the door to hear Coran say, "Come in, come in."

Lance opened the door to find the room transformed. The lighting was dim, Coran was sitting in a chair, one leg crossed over his knee while he wore what looked like an elegant bathrobe, and above them hung a huge picture of Coran and Alfor where Alfor had his arm around Coran and was grinning while Coran was winking, smiling, and holding Alfor's other hand.

Lance bit his lip and walked in to the room, taking a seat on a stool at Coran's request. "So what is it, my boy," Coran asked in a voice that somehow sounded more proper and sophisticated.

"I… I want to bring Allura to a group dinner?"

"And what makes you think you're qualified to be spending time in such a way with Allura?"

"We… we're good friends," Lance told him softly. "And I want her… and everyone else to meet my family and have a good night together."

Coran nodded. "That is fair. Still, are you prepared to make yourself presentable to a princess?"

In confusion, Lance cried "Huh? What?!"

~~  
Keith was sitting on top of Black, staring out at the sunset. It was so strange for him to be back on earth. He had never _really_ felt like he belonged there but… he didn't want to leave it either. It had a strange beauty to it that was so surreal and familiar and amazing.

The wind was rustling past him, whispering in his ears as he watched the sky fade to reds and oranges and yellows with the clouds turning into beautiful shades of pink that looked like someone had taken a paintbrush and designed one of the most perfect scenes.

And then the silence was broken by a loud clattering. Keith looked around as he saw a large metal bucket peek over the side of the Lion, followed by Lance's head.

"Hi, Keith," Lance said glumly. "You know, you are really hard to find."

Keith didn't say anything, his mouth open in shock and his eyes wide in surprise. "I— Lance?! What are you _wearing!?"_

Lance was wearing what looked like a bad knight costume made out of miscellaneous metal pieces that could be found around Hunk's garage.

"Coran made me wear it because he think that I'm going on a date with Allura," Lance muttered dejectedly.

Keith's face fell and he looked away from Lance, back at the sunset. "Oh," he muttered quietly. "So… are you?"

"What?" Lance asked, taking of the helmet thing he was wearing.

" _Are_ you going on a date with Allura?" Keith asked, his voice monotone and dull despite his attempt to sound upbeat and supportive.

"No? Yes? Maybe?" Lance sighed defeatedly. "I don't know, man. I just… I want to have a good evening. I don't want to think about relationships or anything."

Keith nodded, trying to digest the information. He glanced at Lance, his eyes lingering just a moment too long on Lance's beautiful crystalline blue eyes.

"So… why I really came up here is… I have a question for you Keith…" Lance trailed off, folding his fingers together in his lap.

Keith raised an eyebrow, mentally trying to prepare himself for whatever Lance would ask. It was so intimidating to think about. What if Lance wanted to ask….

"Would you come to dinner with us?" Lance asked warmly holding out his hand for Keith to shake or hold.

"Dinner?" Keith asked, his face heating up slightly as he thought about going and eating a meal with Lance and…

"Yeah… all of the paladins and their families are going to be there, tonight," Lance told him. "I heard that Pidge and Allura and Romelle went to the mall but I'm not sure."

"Oh," Keith murmured his face falling slightly.

"So will you be there?" Lance asked earnestly, leaning towards Keith with his eyes wide in hope, his hand still reached out.

Keith closed his eyes, trying to block out Lance's face so he could think rationally. As a friend group, he was fine with the other paladins. He had learned how to get along with them and how to be closer with them and everything. But he still was, by no means, a social person.

However, the thought of spending a dinner with Lance and his family, no less, seemed beyond his imagination. He hadn't gotten to talk to Lance as just a friend since… since he had left. And he missed that.

But he also didn't want to have to watch all of the others getting along and leaving him behind. Excluding him. And… and Lance and Allura getting closer together.

Keith opened his eyes and glanced at the sunset, the yellow sun burning black dots in his vision, before he looked back at Lance, his eyebrows creased upwards and his eyes pleading quietly with the soft smile that played across his lips.

Keith sighed, "Alright. Fine, I'll go." He reached out and grabbed Lance's hand firmly in confirmation, neither shaking nor moving it.

"Yay!" Lance cried moving their hands up and down before he stopped and just settled down with their hands still clasped between them.. "The whole gang will be there now!"

Keith nodded but then releasing his hold on Lance and drawing back. Before he knew it, he felt Lance's arms around him, pulling him into an awkward hug.

Keith stiffened immediately, his mind going into overdrive as he tried to make himself function. Lance must have noticed how tense Keith became because he froze, himself, and started to pull back slowly.

"Sorry, sorry. I forgot how much you hate physical contact," Lance muttered with his head bowed.

"No…" Keith said before he even knew the word was out of his mouth. "It's… it's fine."

And then Lance took that as acceptance and he reached out and hugged Keith even tighter than before, his head nestled into the crook of Keith's neck.

"Keith," Lance muttered from Keith's shoulder.

"Hmm?" Keith asked, his arms awkwardly settling on Lance's back for the brief hug.

"Your mullet is trying to suffocate me."

Keith actually started laughing as Lance pulled back laughing himself.

"You just had to ruin that moment by saying that?" Keith asked incredulous.

"What moment?" Lance asked innocently.

"The bonding moment part two," Keith joked.

Lance sat back, his gaze turning towards the sunset before them. "No, no, nope. Don't remember it. It didn't happen." Keith couldn't help but let his eyes linger on Lance's face just a moment too long as both of them smiled warmly.

After a moment, Lance turned to him, still smiling and said, "I learned something new today. Did you know that Shiro is gay and used to have a fiancé?"

Keith smiled, laughing softly. "Yes. I always liked Adam. He was so nice and funny."

Lance nodded, smiling. "I would have liked to meet him."

"Yeah… Shiro told me he… he died in combat against the Galra."

"That doesn't mean it isn't sad or right," Lance said. "Just because someone dies in war, that doesn't mean it was okay. And… Shiro seems to be the one who always loses everything. His arm… his body… his fiancé…"

Keith nodded solemnly. "Yeah. Unfortunately."

His words drifted into the silent wind, a peaceful calm overtaking them while they sat together, watching the sunset for one last quiet moment on Earth, neither knowing what to say.

Lance made sure that he was early enough to get his family ready for the whole group to come over and for him to be there when everyone first arrived. When the first knock on the door echoed through the room, his mom called for him and he stared downstairs, wanting to be the one to open the door.

Before he could, his mom had already opened the door and was welcoming Allura inside.

Except she didn't look like she normally did. She looked _stunning_. Lance blinked and smiled at her, "Wow, Allura! You're so dressed up! You look beautiful."

"Thank you, Lance," Allura said warmly, "You look nice too." Lance smiled, glancing down at his simple dress cloths and shrugging. Allura laughed lightly and followed Lance and his mom to where they had set up an outdoor dining area with spherical paper lanterns strung above their heads so that they could see.

Just as Lance was about to introduce Allura to all of the parts of his family, he heard another, more forceful knock on the door. Lance turned and started walking towards the doorway in time to see Hunk waving at him as he pulled a large cart full of food containers through the door with his family trailing just behind.

"Wow!" Lance commented as he helped his friend carry the food inside and towards the backyard where a large table was set with a white cloth for the food. "You did an amazing job Hunk!"

"Yeah, considering what little warning you gave me," Hunk said in mild annoyance.

"Heh, yeah," Lance murmured sheepishly.

Next to arrive was Pidge and Colleen with Romelle trailing behind them. Pidge was dressed in an outfit that strangely reminded Lance of the Voltron show's Pidge.

Romelle, as well, looked stunning in a simple blue dress that she had managed to find.

Shiro was the next to arrive, looking awkward and nervous as he went to talk to the other adults that had decided to come.

But Keith didn't arrive immediately. Lance felt unsettled that Keith hadn't showed up yet. He wanted to talk to Keith and get to hear about all of his Marmoran stories from when he had been gone.

Lance talked to the other paladins, especially Allura, as they all got together and started talking with each other.

Lance felt like he was in a daze. Everything was so surreal. And then, his mind focused as he heard the chiming of the doorbell, sounding awkward itself even though doorbells couldn't sound awkward.

He bounded up before anyone else could calling, "I'll get it!" as he barreled towards the door. He paused just before opening it to straighten his shirt and run his fingers through his hair.

"Hello, mullet," Lance said smoothly as he opened the door and bowed low to Keith.

When he looked up, he was met with a stunned Keith who looked… different. Lance blinked as he looked at Keith's black, form-fitting vest over a red polo shirt with a pair of nice black slacks and black boots. He had also tied that mullet up in a ponytail behind his head (One low down that made his hair sleeker, not messier like in that game show), the largest and longest clumps of hair gathered together while the smaller strains still drifted around his face.

"Hi, Lance," Keith said nervously, waving. "It's so nice of you to open the door for me."

"Bah," Lance retorted, "I do it for everyone. Even people with stupid ponytails."

Keith sighed as he followed Lance towards where the rest of the group was. For him, he still didn't know that he wanted to be there, but Shiro was there if he needed someone to talk to and he could always catch up with Lance…

Through the evening, Lance felt like a ping-pong ball, shooting form one person to the next sporadically as he tried to talk and introduce everyone.

"So, Lance," Veronica said, sliding up behind him when he was talking to Allura. "Maybe you could put in a good word for me with that long haired friend of yours?"

Lance felt his face pale and droop as he fumbled in disbelief. "What?! Keith?! No, no no no no," Lance laughed nervously, averting his eyes and looking to see if Keith was close enough to have heard. "No way, NO. Never. Not in a _Million_ decaphebs, okay?" Lance himself didn't know what he was saying. He was rambling everything that came to his mind. "All that guy likes are knives and space wolves! So- Who-Who even likes those things?!" Though, Lance had to admit to himself that Kosmo was really awesome and… even Keith's marmora knife was super cool. "AND," Lance added. "He's got a _Mullet_ \- mullets are terrible _come on_ it's no. Just no NO."

"Lance," Veronica said, looking taken aback by Lance's outburst. "I was just kidding."

Lance blushed, looking away from her. He himself was taken aback by his own outburst. It wasn't like him at all.

"What were you saying, Lance?" Allura asked, turning back from her conversation with Rachel and Lance's mom.

"Um… nothing," Lance lied. "How about we take a nice walk together?" Lance suggested like a failure and an idiot. "I know this really cool tree place…"

"Sure!" she agreed. "Sounds like a nice break from everyone."

Together they walked away from everyone, side by side, into the wooded area. The moonlight shone through the overhead branches and the wind rustled the leaves softly.

"Aw," Lance said as they arrived at the clearing where his favorite tree used to be. "It's all decimated now…It used to be so beautiful here."

Allura touched the edge of his arm lightly and smiled. "Allow me." She walked up towards the tree and placed her hands on it's trunk. All at once, a brilliant light shone through the tree and it's leaves began to grow in a shimmering blue light.

"Wow. That's amazing," Lance breathed, staring at the awe inspiring sight.

"Thanks," Allura smiled. "It reminds me of the quintessence field."

Lance's face soured. "I don't have any pleasant memories of that place. All I remember is the corruption and the fighting."

"I just remember when Lotor and I first flew through it and… and it was so magical," Allura sighed. She looked so beautiful with the blue glow of the leaves casting shadows on her face, her eyes twinkling in the light.

Lance took a step closer to her but she didn't seem to notice. Lance smiled and spoke softly, "You… you and Lotor… kissed, didn't you?"

Allura looked down at the ground. "Yes."

Lance felt his eyes droop closed. "You miss him, don't you?"

"Yes," Allura said reluctantly.

Lance opened his eyes and looked at her again. He had started to notice it for a little while but, in his mind, she had changed again. At first, she had been the goddess, the unachievable dream, and then she had been the person he was in love with… and now… now Lance saw her as his friend.

Slowly, painfully, Lance leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her, in a hug of comfort and friendship.

"You loved Lotor," Lance stated. "And… you don't love me. At least not in that way."

Allura nodded slowly, not looking at him. Lance pulled away smiling through the pain in his eyes.

"Lance, I'm—"

"It's okay, Princess," Lance teased, trying to cover the crack in his voice. "I… I don't want to be your backup. And… you need time to properly accept that loss. It wasn't easy for any of us to be betrayed by Lotor… but you took it the hardest. And I'm sorry for that."

"Lance… I'm sure there will be someone who will love you completely and entirely," Allura said, pulling back from his hug and looking at him with pity in her eyes. He really hated her pity.

"Maybe," Lance said brightly, covering his pain with a smile. "But that's okay. Right now we need to focus on the fight against Honerva and freeing the entire universe form her control."

"Yes. You are right," Allura said, placing her fist on her open palm. "And I know that we'll get her."

Lance smiled sadly. "You should head back to the party— I'll be just behind you."

"You sure?" Allura said softy.

"Yes," Lance replied, smiling sadly. "See you in a minute."

Allura left like a flower petal in the wind, drifting away as beautiful as the moonbeams. But Lance knew that she wasn't meant for him. He thought that he had known for quite a while.

Lance decided to walk back, taking one more look at the tree after a moment. On his way, he thought about Shiro. Shiro had been happily engaged but… he had left for the Kerberos mission and then… and then his fiancé was proclaimed dead in his absence.

"Hey, Shiro?" Lance said as he returned to the party and located their Space Dad.

"What's up Lance?" Shiro said cooly, leaning up against the table.

"How… how did you know that you… wanted to marry Adam… before you two…" Lance trailed off, not knowing how to continue with that awkward sentence.

"We broke up because I had a terminal disease and decided to go on the Kerberos mission instead of staying with him, a decision I think about every day and sometimes regret with all of my heart. And other times I'm glad that I left so that I could be healed, and help you guys fight to save the galaxy.

"But we decided to get married because we were so happy with each other. We couldn't imagine life without the other.

Lance looked down at his hands, not sure what to say. He didn't really know what he wanted from Shiro… he just wanted to talk to him.

"Lance," Shiro said softly. "One thing that I would give anything for is time. I would love to see Adam just one more time so that I could hug him or tell him that I'm sorry and that I love him. But I can't do that…"

"So what are you saying, Shiro?"

Shiro laughed laughtly. "I'm old and tired. I don't know what I'm saying. But… I guess I was trying to tell you not to wait. Especially in this war, you never know how much time you will have before the one you care about dies… so if you have something you want to say to _anyone_ on the team, you should tell them ASAP so that you don't constantly wish for more time."

Lance nodded. "I think I understand. Thanks Shiro."

"Plus!" Shiro called as Lance started walking away, "I think there is a certain leader-figure of the team that would enjoy talking to you…"

Lance froze up, his ears turning red as he turned back towards Shiro slowly. But, by the time he was looking back, Shiro's eyebrows were creased downwards as he stared at his phone. Lance wanted to talk to him, to check that everything was okay, but just then Hunk and Pidge found him and pulled him into a large group conversation.

Shiro, on the other hand, let his eyes scan over the text over and over again.

 **Sam: Shiro, you need to come back here. It's urgent. Nothing bad but you want to get over here.**

Shiro looked around nervously, already anxious to leave. He felt bad about abandoning everyone, but he didn't like the sound of Sam's text and he much preferred knowing what was going to happen over being in the dark.

"Hey…" Shiro said awkwardly to the first of Lance's relatives that he came upon on his way out. He was a taller person who looked sort of like Lance except for the stubble on his chin and the chin length hair. "I was… I need to leave," Shiro fumbled."Please tell them… if… if they ask."

Before he got a response, Shiro pushed past the young man and out the door, leaving and rushing to the Garrison.

Shiro practically ran through the garrison halls until he was stopped by Sam grabbing his arms and saying "Whoa! Whoa," Like Shiro was a horse. Shiro glared at him but slowed to a stop.

"There's something— no someone that I want you to see."

Shiro looked at him with confusion, not sure what to say and confused about what was happening.

"Here," Sam said, leading him to a recovery room with two large beds and a curtain in between them. Light streamed in from the window, casting the room in a beautiful yellow glow.

The first bed in the room was empty, but as Shiro walked towards the second, he saw a figure sitting on the bed, and staring out the window.

Shiro blinked, trying to get his eyes to focus and take in the facts instead of his hopes. It couldn't be. It just couldn't be true.

"Adam?"


	2. Episode 2

Note: Hi! I am not dead!

Sorry this took so long. I have been working adamently but... well I got sidetracked and I had to plan out the whole plot and stuff.

WARNING: /Heavily/ implied character suicide (not a character anyone cares about...)

also, trauma and some mental issues.

Nothing /too/ bad and I'm keeping the rating at everyone can read this, but just as a trigger warning.

* * *

Episode 2:

"Adam?" Shiro asked, his voice trembling with apprehension, excitement, and fear. What if Adam really was in front of him? What if Shiro was about to see his fiancé— no, his ex-fiancé— what would happen? Would Adam be happy to see him?

And what if that wasn't Adam there? How would Shiro deal with… with all of those emotions? The pain he had kept suppressed, the guilt, the sense of loss after he had learned that Adam was dead. He remembered the shock, the way his body had frozen and his throat had seized up. He didn't know if he could go through that again. If he would be strong enough to lose Adam again, after having lost him twice before.

Time seemed to slow down as the figure turned slowly towards Shiro, chestnut hair shining in the light, longer than Shiro remembered it being. The face that looked at him was emotionless and tired, large bags were hanging under his eyes and his mouth relaxed into a frown.

And Shiro watched, in slowed time, as the man's eyebrows raised up, his mouth opening as his forehead creased.

"Takashi?" Adam whispered, the name barely more than a breath leaving Adam's lips.

And before he knew it, Shiro had his arms around Adam, holding him close and burying his face into Adam's neck. His hair was longer and more scraggly than Shiro remembered. He had the faint traces of a beard on his chin and he seemed… he seemed frail.

Shiro held him close, tears already falling out of his eyes. "Adam," he whimpered into Adam's ear. "Adam, yo-you're here."

Weakly, Adam placed his hands on Shrio's back and rubbed small circles into Shiro's back. "Takashi," Adam breathed and then he choked out a sob and clutched Shiro like he was his only lifeline. Shiro felt his mind relax whenever he heard Adam saying his name, _Takashi._

"I'm here!" Shiro soothed him. "I'm here, Adam. And I won't leave this time."

Adam stopped moving, holding perfectly still save for the sobs that wracked through his body. "Takashi," Adam whimpered. "Please… just go."

Shiro started, taken aback by Adam's words. "I-I— Adam?"

Adam pulled back from Shiro, gripping at his shoulders. "Just… just 'cause you look different—" Adam paused, taking a deep and shaky breath as his head was bent downwards, "That doesn't mean that you're real."

"Adam," Shiro whispered, his throat closing up as he reached out and grabbed adam's hand between his. "Adam I'm right here. I'm here. Can't you feel me?"

Adam shook his head vigorously. "I'm imagining things! It isn't real! _You_ aren't real."

Shiro closed his eyes and held onto Adam's hand, bringing it close to his face until he held Adam's hand next to his lips and softly kissed his knuckles. "Adam… I left you. All those years ago.. I left you. And they told me you died… but here you are. You're here now. And I'm here now."

"No!" Adam shouted and then lowered his head again, tears spilling down his cheeks, "No, no no no…"

He wrenched his hand back from Shiro and cupped his face in his hands.

Shiro took a step back to look at him. _Really_ look at him. Adam was definitely skinnier. His hair was thinner and longer. And… most notably, he was missing his left leg and a shiny prosthetic was in its place.

"What happened to you, Adam?" Shiro whispered.

"The… the fires," Adam mumbled. "So much fire and then the falling and the pain! The white hot pain! And then you were there! And you helped me up, Takashi, but I knew you couldn't be there… you just couldn't be…"

Shiro closed his eyes and swallowed. "Adam… I went through the entire galaxy and I missed you so much. I wanted nothing more than to return to you… And when I got here," Shiro shrugged, looking out the window and realizing that he was crying. "When I got here, they told me you were dead."

Adam didn't look up but he was clearly listening to what Shiro said.

"And all I could think," Shiro went on, "Was about how much I missed you. I thought about how I wanted to run to you and hug you and spend more time with you. I wished that I could have given you one more goodbye hug or… one more kiss."

Shiro paused, taking a step closer to Adam. "I'm not a part of your imagination, Adam. I am here, in flesh and blood… and metal," Shiro added lightly, gesturing with his prosthetic. "And, Adam, I swear to you: I will never leave you again. I will stay by your side always and protect you and be with you."

Adam buried his head downwards, refusing to look at Shiro.

"I'm right here," Shiro said softly. He moved closer to Adam and cupped his chin in his hands, pulling Adam's head up towards him.

"Adam," Shiro said firmly, "I… I missed you. Please… I'm here."

And Shiro collapsed his head down until his forehead was resting against Adam's, tears streaming out of both of their eyes. "Adam…" Shiro whispered. "I— I don't know how I can convince you that I'm here. I don't know what to say. I don't know what to do. But I _am_ here. I am here now."

Gently, Shiro leaned forward until his lips brushed against the edge of Adam's and then he pulled back, intending to Let Adam be alone for a moment.

Shiro turned away, not able to focus on anything other than not crying anymore.

But before he could pull away, Adam grabbed his wrist and held him tightly.

Shiro looked back, his eyes wide in surprise. "Adam?" he whispered barely daring to believe that Adam was catching him and holding him there.

"Takashi…" Adam whispered. "I… I couldn't imagine all of this…" he whispered. "And if this… if this is a delusion, then I don't care." And pulled Shiro around to face him. "Your nose?" he said curiously, reaching up as though to touch the scar on Shiro's nose.

Shiro knelt down on the ground, smiling at him, and grabbed Adam's hand, pulling it towards his face until Adam's fingers brushed lightly against Shiro's scar. Adam traced the line across his nose and then moved up to tousle Shiro's white bangs. "And your hair…"

Shiro smiled softly, "A— A lot has happened."

Adam's hand drifted to the side of Shiro's face where he rested his hand while Shiro laid his own hand on top of Adam's holding him close.

"You're really here?" Adam asked quietly, his eyes glancing down to the prosthetic on Shiro's arm.

"Yes," Shiro said with certainty. "And so are you."

"Then… am I imagining how weird that arm looks? Or does it really look like that?" Adam asked, his eyes now fixed on Shiro's arm.

Shiro laughed and it felt good. It felt good to finally be back with Adam. "Yeah… it looks like that. And yeah, it does look weird," Shiro chuckled. "Maybe I should ask Sam if they have any different forms…"

"That might be good," Adam whispered, smiling for the first time for real.

"You have one too," Shiro noticed, pulling back from Adam so that he could look at the prosthetic leg.

"I… I crashed," Adam whispered. "And… and I've seen… seen these horrible things. But… but I'm here… and I… I just lost a leg."

Shrio grabbed Adam's hand in his and rubbed small circles with his thumb. "It's okay. Now we match!"

Adam smiled, laughing softly and wiping at his eyes. "When I said I'd give an arm and a leg to see you again, I don't know that I meant so literally."

Shiro smiled, blushing and laughing at Adam's bad joke. From his place on the floor, Shiro leaned up and brushed at Adam's long bangs so that he could see his eyes better. "You don't have your glasses…?"

"I need them," Adam sighed. "I just lost them… a while ago." His face darkened as he looked back into his memories, seeing whatever had broken them.

"Hey, hey," Shiro said softly, soothingly. "I'm here. It's okay."

"I know," Adam whispered, wiping at his eyes again. "Takashi… I missed you. I missed you so, so, so much while you were gone. They told me it was a pilot error but… Takashi and pilot error don't belong in the same sentence. You are the best pilot… so, I didn't believe them and then… and then Keith went missing and I…and I…"

Shiro leaned up and gently, lightly, kissed Adam, his lips brushing across Adam's like a butterfly.

"Adam, I missed you so much and there were so many times I thought about how I was never going to get to see you again or… or say how sorry I am, or… or kiss you again."

"Well… if you wanted to kiss me again then you had better do it right," Adam huffed, grabbing Shiro and pulling him into a long, deep kiss, holding him close so their arms were wrapped around each other. Shiro melted into Adam, holding him close and deciding that he was never going to let him go.

And they spent the rest of the evening talking and when it was late enough that they were falling asleep, they fell asleep side by side with Adam's head resting on Shiro's shoulder and Shiro's head resting on Adam's.

"She's awake," Coran said over the mobile device that Allura had been given.

Allura took in a deep breath, "Okay. Let me tell Romelle. We'll be right over."

When they got to the Garrison, they walked the familiar path to the chamber where Luka, their captured Altean, was being kept. Romelle kept worrying at the tips of her hair, biting her lip in agitation. "Why would she do this?" she asked Allura. "Why would she attack a planet like this? She used to be so… nice."

"I… I don't know," Allura responded.

Coran stopped them right before they charged inside of the room, his arm outstretched in front of the door.

"Hello! Glad you could finally make it!" Coran said cheerily. "So, she woke up about an hour ago but won't talk to anyone. I'm hoping that some Altean faces and maybe yours being familiar," he said to Romelle, "will help her to talk more…. Alright! Head on in there!"

With that, he threw open the door and shoved them inside.

"Wait!" Allura tried to protest so that Coran would come in with them, but he just shook his head and gestured for them to continue on towards Luka.

They walked up to where she was, hugging her knees to her chest and staring at the sheet of the bed, showing no signs of noticing that they were there.

"Hello, Luka," Romelle tried to say softly. "I'm Romelle… from the Altean planet… and this is Allura from the original Altea."

Luka shifted her steely eyes up towards Romelle's, ignoring Allura, and stared into them. "You betrayed us," she growled

"Betrayed you?" Romelle asked, surprised. "We… we never betrayed anyone."

"Oh really?" Luka growled, stretching out and getting ready to stand up. "Is the complete destruction of our planet and our brethren really not betrayal to you?"

"Lotor was the one who betrayed us," Romelle said, her voice calm and collected but with a noticeable edge to it. "He was abducting Alteans and draining them of quintessence!"

"He _saved_ us," Luka retorted bitterly, glaring at Romelle. "And now we serve under his mother, the Great Honerva, and we shall do her bidding in order to restore order to the galaxy!"

"Why were you sent to earth?" Romelle demanded.

"We were drawn in by the energy here," Luka scoffed. "But it wouldn't matter to you, Romelle."

"Luka, Please," Allura said, stepping in. "All we want is to end this fighting. Honerva was the witch at Zarkon's side. Lotor was their son and he was the one who was taking your people and having all of the lifeforce drained out of them. Don't you think that is enough to quantify betrayal?"

"I don't know what you are talking about!" Luka hissed darkly, her eyes still fixed on Romelle.

"Then… then will you at least take us to see Honerva and decide to join her ourselves?" Romelle asked softly.

Luka scoffed, "Why would I do that? I know that you are lying and would kill her Benevolence on sight. I have no reason to suspect that you would be fair and just and consider her plans."

"Luka," Allura tried earnestly. "We just want to see for yourselves what she is like. Alteans must stand by Alteans—"

"AND THAT'S WHY YOU HAVE BEEN DIMINISHED IN OUR EYES. You are nothing but lesser peons to Honerva!" Luka screamed, all of her hatred focused on Romelle.

"Luka…" Romelle whispered, trying to keep her temper under control, "We would like to help you. We would like to… to be there for you!"

"AND WHERE WERE YOU WHEN OUR SAVIOR WENT MISSING?!" Luka shouted.

"I… I was—" Romelle started to say before Allura interrupted her.

"Luka, what we are hoping to do for everyone is to settle the war that has been ravaging through the universe for years. We want to give you a home and a place that is welcoming and calm, we want to—"

"ENOUGH!" Luka screamed. "I don't care for these false promises. I know that your word is not true."

"Luka!" Romelle pleaded, "Don't you want to see your home again? Your family?"

"What family?" Luka glared at them. "Lotor took him for his cause. I wanted to be chosen, to be his loyal servent, but he never did choose me. So when Honerva finally did, I agreed in a heartbeat, glad to finally serve Her Grace."

"Luka," Allura soothed, placing a hand on Romelle's shoulder as she spoke to try to relieve some tension. "How about a deal? We'll give you freedom upon our return to the Altean planet, if you lead us there. How does that sound?"

"Like I would _Ever_ betray Honerva," Luka said darkly.

"How about we give you some time to think?" Romelle said steelily. "That way we can both calm down and think rationally."

"I think that's a great idea, Romelle," Allura said with a smile. "We'll check back in later and see how you're doing."

"Fine," Luka scoffed.

Allura and Romelle turned to leave and as they did, Luka called out to them, yelling, "But don't expect anything when you get back here!"

Luka watched as Romelle and Allura left, her eyes glaring daggers at Romelle's back as she left.

Luka knew that there was no way she would tell _her_ anything. Not after what _she_ had done. How she had left them.

She curled her arms around her knees, scowling, seething with rage.

They would make her tell.

They would torture her and hurt her and they would force her to talk.

She was certain of it.

Luka glanced out of the window, knowing that they were watching her. Reluctantly, she rested her head down on the bed, her back facing the one-way mirror. She had no intention of going to sleep— she had been asleep long enough— but she knew she had to get them to leave her alone.

A couple of times doctors would walk in and out of the room, acting like they wanted to check on her and see if she was well or not.

But they didn't disturb her 'sleep.'

And eventually, after what was probably hours passed, she stirred and sat up slowly, blinking her eyes in the darkness where the only light came from blinking monitors and flashing green and red lights.

Luka was fairly certain that no one else was around… and even if they were watching her, there was no way that they could stop her in time.

So she crept out of bed, silent as a mouse, and wandered over towards the cabinets along the side. Her legs felt like jelly and she could barely hold herself up, but she managed to make it to the edge of the counter where she began to riffle through the cabinets and draws.

And then she came upon it.

A glinting silvery knife.

Luka took the tool out of the drawer with extreme care, holding it gingerly in her hands.

 _Now Romelle will be sorry._

 _Now the Altean planet will be avenged. Along with Lotor, our saviour._

 _Now I will never be able to be used to destroy those I love._

Luka looked at the knife, her own eyes glinting like steel as her mind became resolute and committed.

Softly, she smiled and said, "For Altea… and Honerva."

The group stood around together, waiting in the silence of the wind before leaving Earth.

"Hey… guys," Allura said, breaking the ice as she looked down at her folded hands dejectedly. "Listen… so there was something I wanted to tell you guys earlier, right?"

The group nodded subduedly. No one was in a good mood, knowing they were going back out into the battle… into the hell before them.

"So that Altean… Luka…" Allura choked, her voice as soft as a whisper, "… she's dead. She, um, was not with us this morning and in the night—"

"How did she die?" Hunk interrupted.

Allura glanced down at their own hands— at her wrists, thinking about the memory of seeing Luka that morning. Romelle, gasping and breaking down into sobs...

Lance waved to get Hunk's attention and then mimed what happened by sliding his finger across his wrist.

"Oh," Hunk whispered. "Okay… That's… that's really sad."

"Yeah…" everyone agreed mutely, staring ahead at the Atlas and thinking about the lost life.

"It is almost time for us to leave," Allura sighed as they loaded the last couple of items onto the Atlas, trying to busy and distract themselves.

"Where's Shiro?" Hunk asked, looking around.

"He gave the speech to everyone and then said he had to take care of something," Keith told the team as he knelt down and stroked Kosmo.

From the distance, they all heard the faint sound of bickering.

"Adam, I already told you that you can come!"

"Yeah but there is no way in _heck_ that you are getting out of my sight!"

Everyone turned to see Shiro walking back, his hand intertwined with another chestnut haired man's. The other man was wearing a casual outfit with a bomber jacket, t-shirt, and jeans and had glasses gleaming on his nose.

"Hello everyone!" the man said as he came up. "I have come to crash your— KEITH!" Adam shouted, interrupting himself as he ran forward and tackled Keith, wrapping him in a huge hug.

"ADAM!" Shiro cried. "You might still be injured!"

"Adam?!" Keith cried over both of them. "Shiro… Shiro told me that you were— Kosmo! Back off; it's okay!" Keith snapped at the growling space wolf who was attempting to protect his master by intimidating Adam.

Adam hugged Keith until the rest of the group was sure that he was about to pop from the force of the hug.

And then Adam took a step back and looked at Keith. "Wow. Okay so you've grown. And so has your hair. And is that a scar? Why is everyone getting scars?"

"Actually," Keith said, rubbing the back of his head, "I got this mark," he murmured, touching the mark on his cheek and not looking at Shiro, "because of a fight I had and… and because I'm part Galra."

"Whaaaat?!" Adam roared, stepping back.

"Not all of them are bad!" Keith said. "Um… my mom's already on board but you can meet her when we get in."

"Also," Adam sighed, shaking his head at the new information intake, "You _left,_ young man! How can I be a responsible step-brother figure if you run away?"

Shiro smiled, stepping up and placing his chin on Adam's shoulder. "So in case you guys didn't get the memo, this is my boyfriend Adam."

"And I'm coming on the Atlas," Adam said again, cementing his views on the issue.

"Yes," Shiro noedded. "It's time we get loaded, anyway."

As they walked up the platform, Lance, Hunk, and Pidge hugging their families one last time, Keith and Adam and Shiro all started to exchange stories about the missing years and talk about what changed and what stayed the same.

When they got inside, Adam dragged Keith with him to go find Krolia so he could meet a friendly Galra who was also Keith's mom.

While they were rushing off, Shiro found Sam and called him over. "Hey, Sam, did you get the thing I asked for?"

"Yeah… I just… I don't know why you would want to change it," Sam said softly.

"Well, It's kind of awkward and bulky and I can't pretend I'm normal which makes things kind of awkward."

"Alright," Sam sighed. "We'll start the procedure after we take off. It shouldn't be too difficult as long as we use the princess's crystal."

Shiro smiled and placed his hand on Sam's shoulder. "Thank you… and thank you for texting me last night."

Sam smiled in return, "I'm just glad that you could be happy."

"Where are you?" Honerva muttered to herself as she combed through the entirety of the galaxy, searching for her son.

As she wandered through the debris of a wreckage, she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Spinning around, she saw a lean, blue cat flicking its tail while it sat on the debris, staring at her.

Honerva stared at it. It was familiar somehow. Somehow it was… it was—

 _Kova_

The name echoed through her thoughts and the cat began to wander towards her, jumping from debris clump to debris clump to reach her.

She held out her hand and caught the cat who perched on her shoulders as she flew back to her ship, climbing inside.

She… she could remember having that cat. She could remember that cat being with her through the worst of things. But.. she remembered a time when Lotor was still very young and Kova had come up to him and taken a liking to him.

"Can you help me find Lotor, your master?" Honerva asked it.

The cat said nothing as it stared at her.

Honerva sighed and set up the spell she would need. If everything worked well, then she would be able to use Lotor's bond to Kova to locate him. Maybe.

As she cast the spell, memories flooded her, but… they weren't her own. She saw Lotor founding a colony of Alteans, a statue of himself in the process of being erected. She saw Lotor with his generals, Narti and Kova by his side. And then… and then she saw a plain of white with a single form in the center. She squinted at the form and it seemed to grow larger and larger until she could see a Voltron-like ship hovering in the path, flickering in and out of existence.

"Lotor!" Honerva gasped as she jolted herself awake. And then she looked down at the cat to find him curled up into a ball, no more light in his heart. She looked at him and then walked away, leaving him for dead.

After flying for a couple of days, Honerva came upon the spot that was connected to where Lotor was. She could see a ship, flickering in and out of existence against the backdrop of the stars.

"My son," Honerva whispered to herself as she flew towards him.

"Lotor!" She called out, hoping to hear his voice but knowing she couldn't. "Lotor, my son, are you there?"

Of course she didn't get a response. Honerva focused herself, forcing herself to calm down and breath. She had to get Lotor out of there. She _had_ to pull him out of… of that energy plain.

She closed her eyes and focused on breathing until she was able to concentrate her energy. She just had to access the quintessence field for a brief moment. Nothing more than what she had already done.

And then, like a cold wave of water washing over her, she felt the quintessence fill her body— every edge and gap of it— until she was no longer in the same field of existence. She forced her way into the quintessence field, pulling towards Lotor. She could feel his energy pulsing like a heartbeat and it helped anchor her to him. She pulled towards it, calling out for him over and over again.

And then she felt a tether binding them. And she pulled on it, pulling Lotor back to her like he was trapped in quicksand— the energy sucking and pulling on him, refusing to let go.

But then, he shot back towards her as though he were flung away from the energy.

After regaining her breath and barings, Honerva looked around until she spotted Lotor, her wonderful son, drifting alone through space. He wore no helmet and his hair drifted around him in fluid locks.

Honerva scrambled to get to his limp form, and cradled him in her arms as she flew back towards her ship and clambored inside in a daze, barely able to think. As she wandered through, she drew on as much quintessence as she could and pushed it into Lotor, hoping to sustain him.

And when she got to the energy room, she placed Lotor in the middle of her circle, hoping she could push some quintessence into him. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the trembling and small form of Kova. Somehow, the thing still wasn't dead, despite looking two steps away from it.

Regardless, Honerva pushed all of the quintessence that she could muster into Lotor, hoping for a miracle.

After a moment, Lotor was still not moving. Honerva stopped casting her spell and knelt next to Lotor, placing her hands on his chest and pleading, "Please, my son. Return to me."

And then she felt it. She felt him stir beneath her.

And she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Kova was stirring, moving away from her, his coat looking shinier and much better looking than before.

"Drink this," Honerva told Lotor as she placed a bowl of soup up to Lotor's lips and tilted it so he could drink. The cat was curled up on Lotor's lap as he stroked it gently, almost catatonically.

"What is the beast's name?" Lotor asked, his voice dry and raspy and his eyes downcast.

"Kova," Honerva replied. "And it seems his life force is tied to your own."

Lotor looked up at her with emotionless, dead yellow eyes and then back down at the cat. "And you are?" he asked.

"Honerva. I— I am your mother," she choked out, forcing herself to say the words. She wanted them to be true. She wanted them to be true so badly it hurt. But that didn't change the fact that they felt foreign and strange to hear and say.

"Honerva…" Lotor said, trying out the name. "My mother. And who was my father?"

Honerva hesitated, not sure if she should tell him where he hailed form or if that would revert him back to a state of insanity. "Your father was a proud Galran leader," Honerva said slowly.

"Zarkon," Lotor said steelily.

"Yes," Honerva replied bitterly.

"Leader," Lotor said, testing the word out. "Ruler. Dictator…"

"Those are correct word choices," Honerva muttered "But Zarkon is no longer with us today and he cannot interfere."

"Then.." Lotor whispered, struggling to get the words to form. "Then… he will… not… interfere."

"Interfere with what?" Honerva asked, her interested piqued.

"Your plan." Lotor murmured. "I overheard…"

Honvera looked at him in those soulless eyes. "You heard about my plan… will you side with me?"

Lotor looked at her blankly and almost as though he were a mechanical sentry, he said "I will do as a loyal son would."

"I would like you to see something," Honerva told Lotor as she held his arm to guide him.

"What is it, Mother?" Lotor asked dully.

"Your project," Honerva whispered as the door to their ship opened and they stepped out into the blinding light of the outside world.

Lotor looked around, blinking his pupil-less eyes and stared at the lush fields and glittering blue sky before them. The few remaining Alteans ambled about with their daily lives, farming and gathering.

"What… what is this?" Lotor asked quietly, some of the old interest and curiosity that he used to possess returning to his voice.

"Your planet," Honerva said, turning him around so that he could see the enormous statue of himself that stood looking over the colony. "The Altean planet that you created to save and preserve the Alteans and their culture."

"Why…" Lotor said softly, closing his eyes and putting a hand to his head. "Why would I—"

He cut himself off with a cry of agony, crumpling to his knees and clutching at his head.

"LOTOR!" Honerva shouted, trying to catch Lotor but failing as he shook her off, staring into his hands as they covered his face.

Honverva knelt next to Lotor and grabbed his arm. "Lotor…."

 _I open my eyes, the room dark and ominous, cast in purple lighting._

" _Report," A strong voice commands and I look up to see someone sitting on a throne before me. He is large and Galran and his eyes shimmer yellow menacingly._

 _I swallow and stand as upright as I can manage, my small body quivering._

" _He is scoring excellently in his studies," a woman beside me says gruffly. "Some of the best scores we've ever seen— but he is rather stunted in growth for his age."_

" _Hmm," the large emperor says._

 _In my mind, I see the name_ Zarkon _appear before me and I shudder, realizing that this man is my father._

 _Against my own accord, I step forward tentatively and begin to speak, the words sounding tentative and afraid in my own ears. "Father? May I ask a question?"_

 _The woman behind me grabs me forcefully and pulls me back beside her. "I apologize, Lord Emperor Zarkon. I shall be punishing him—"_

" _No," Zarkon interrupts. "Let the boy speak. He may ask one question."_

 _Again, I step forward and stand my ground sayng as clearly as I could, "Who was my mother?"_

" _She was the only person who I cared about," Zarkon says slowly. "But now she is lost forever and I am no longer bound to any rules."_

" _But what was she like?" I ask again, pleading edging into my voice._

" _Enough!" the woman shouts, grabbing my shoulder and shoving me backwards._

" _Father!" I cry in surprise. "Please! I must know where I come from! I must know who my family is!"_

" _Silence!" Zarkon commands._

 _I fall back into the straight posture I was so conditioned for and stare glumly at the floor, curiosity burning in my mind._

 _I blink furiously, trying to clear the tears out of my eyes. And then… and then there was only blackness._

Lotor opened his eyes slowly, blinking and groaning in pain and exhaustion.

"Good," Honerva commented, leering down at him from above where he lay. "You're awake."

Lotor moaned and forced himself to sit upright. As he did, he heard Honerva murmuring slightly as she took notes on him.

"We have run into a problem," Honerva said quietly.

Lotor replied nothing, the memory of a long forgotten past still haunting his mind.

"You need quintessence to survive and we happen to be at a shortage."

"Quintessence," Lotor repeated rubbing at his head.

"Yes, and ever since the Galra Empire split apart, we have been having shortages. I believe that while I was Haggar and for Zarkon as well, we both required pure quintessence to be able to continue to function or else we would begin to deteriorate and die. My hypothesis is that from having been born already tainted with quintessence and from your prolonged exposure to it, you, too, need copious amounts of quintessence in order to function at your prime."

Lotor nodded, swallowing thickly as he processed what Honerva was saying. "Where… where are we to find… quintessence?"

"From other planets," Honerva declared to him. "The same way that the Galra empire has always taken quintessence."

She stood above Lotor, leering down at him with her ice cold gaze. "Come now, son. We must acquire the help of our fellow alteans."

* * *

Note: Thanks to everyone who has left such nice comments on this fic! It really encouraged me to go all in and create a good story.

As you can tell, I am going to deviate from the s8 plot quite a bit, but I plan to make call backs to the original whenever I can/ when it fits.

Thank you for being patient and please stick with me for this wonderful fic!


	3. Episode 3

Note: sorry it's been so long since I updated!

This chapter was just... difficult.

Anyway, hope you enjoy it!

(Also, I'm too tired to edit this anymore. please comment if there are errors and I will fix them)

* * *

"Whoaaaa!" Adam breathed as they all stepped inside of the Space Mall. "It looks just like an Earth mall! But in space!"

"I know," Shiro sighed. "I missed the first time the group went to the mall but I heard the stories."

"Stories?" Adam asked, quirking an eyebrow up and looking at each of them in turn to see who would tell him what happened.

Pidge yawned. "In summary, Lance and I fished in a fountain for money. Hunk got arrested and then became a famous chef. And Keith looked at knives. Oh and Coran got us some lenses which we actually needed."

"Hmm," Adam said nodding. "Not bad… pretty good screw ups there. _But…_ one time, at an Earth mall…"

"Oh god," Keith moaned, covering his face with his hand.

Shiro just closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable to be over. All of a sudden, all of the other paladins were crowding around Adam, waiting to hear his stories.

"So it was around the holidays," Adam started his voice ringing like someone who was a great storyteller, "And Takashi, Keith, and I were really bored…. So Keith and I dared Takashi to jump onto one of those giant decorative ornament, ball thingies."

"Did he do it?" Pidge asked.

"What do you think?" Adam laughed. "Of course he did. He jumped like an insane person, landed on the ball, but his weight broke it so it crashed down. _BOOOM!_ "

Adam started laughing while Shiro seemed to melt in shame. The edges of Keith's mouth twitched as though he were trying not to laugh at the memory.

"SHIRO!" Pidge laughed, whacking Shiro's new prosthetic arm— one that looked more like the galran one that he used to have— "You used to be so adventurous! What happened to our Space Dad?"

Lance was wiping his eyes, laughing in glee, "I don't know but that sounds awesome and I _so_ wish that I had been there to see that."

"Was Shiro okay?" Hunk asked, trying not to laugh himself.

"Ehhh…." Adam shrugged. "All in all he turned out fine… but he may or may not have broken a leg and gotten a concussion and got us banned from the mall… Not that that matters now that all the malls are practically closed."

"Adam!" Shiro protested. "Weren't you worried for my well being?"

"Sure…" Adam lied, smiling as he wrapped his arm around Shiro. "I'm always worried for your wellbeing."

Shiro smiled, leaning into Adam beside him. "I suppose that it wasn't as bad as being taken prisoner by the Galra and cloned and then brought back to life after dying."

Adam snorted and pulled away, almost dropping Shiro, "Takashi! I thought you were going to say that the pain wasn't as bad as being without me or something mushy and sweet like that!"

Shiro shook his head, sighing. "Adam, I love you with all of my heart, but the torture was worse. I died." He paused at Adam's playfully downcast face and then grabbed his hand to hold, whispering, "But you almost dying comes as a very close second."

"Aw, thanks."

"Okay…" Pidge murmured, breaking the scene, "Glad that the space dads are happy… but we really should start looking for information."

"We need to see if anyone knows what the Galra leadership position is at and if anyone knows what's happening in general," Allura said, her voice still subdued.

The mood immediately dropped in the group and everyone's faces fell. Romelle had stayed back on the Atlas, still mourning Luka's death and blaming herself. Everyone had tried to convince Allura to stay back with her, but Alura wanted to watch for information herself… and she believed that there was no benefit to her sitting idly.

Still, everyone felt for Romelle and wanted to help her. Hunk had even made her special soup and bread that was supposed to be reminiscent of Altea.

"I think we should split off into small teams," Keith said, starting to take command of the group.

"I call dibs on Takashi!" Adam called, grabbing Shiro's arm.

"Yes," Keith nodded, a faint smile playing on his lips, "Shiro and Adam, Pidge and Hunk—"

"I want to go by myself," Allura interrupted.

"Okay…" Keith agreed. "Then I guess, Lance? Do you want to stick with me? Or with Pidge and Hunk?"

"Um," Lance whispered, not meeting Keith's eyes. "I'll go with you."

"Okay. Then the plans are set," Keith said, looking every member of their group in the eye, except for Lance who was still avoiding his gaze. "Head out in a direction and see if you find any approachable Galra to talk to. Try to find out anything you can about the altean planet and Honerva. If you can, ask if there have been any reports of planets being destroyed by giant, super-powered, robots."

Everyone nodded, with some of them like Hunk, saluting sarcastically before they headed out.

Keith turned to Lance, "Are you ready to head out?"

"Yeah… um. Yes," Lance fumbled over his words. "Let's go find Honerva. I bet we can find more information and clues than the other pairs."

"Alright," Keith smirked, accepting the challenge. "You're on."

...~...

Lotor settled down into the pilot's chair, Kova jumping up onto his lap not a moment later.

He stroked his soft head once before turning on his comm and telling his mother, Honerva, that he was ready for take off.

Instead of taking a large robot like the loyal Altean subjects were doing, he was taking a simple ship that was set for one person, good for recon and scouting.

That was all Honerva was letting him do, anyway.

"Make sure you stay safe and in contact while out there, my son," Honerva reminded him like an overprotective mother. The longer that Lotor was awake, the more the world seemed surreal. That one memory he had had almost seemed like a better version of the truth than the one he faced now.

"Yes… Honerva," Lotor said after pausing. Before he had to hear her reply, he turned off the communication link, preparing himself for taking off.

Finally, he would get a moment of freedom.

As soon as he got the okay signal, Lotor launched his ship, pushing it to incredible speeds and rushing out of the galaxy. He was thrilled to feel the comforting vibrations of the ship as it flew, the controls beneath his fingers.

He could go anywhere. He could learn anything.

In the back of his head, he felt the dull haze of a memory begin to wash over him. He wanted to fight it off— to keep flying— but he was also _so_ curious about what his life had been like because everything was just so _foggy_.

Drowsily, he typed coordinates into the ship's autodrive and set the ship in motion, allowing the technology to take over for him as he felt his eyes drift closed. Kova jumped off of his lap and onto the computer board, staring at him intently as he flicked his tail.

"Keep watch," Lotor commanded it just before his eyes driften closed and the memory washed over him.

...~...

" _Please, Father," I beg, my body still slumped in a bow. I glance behind me briefly, observing my colleague sitting peacefully— politely in a bow— on the floor._

 _I can't fail._

 _I have to save her people._

" _I'm begging you Father!" I say earnestly, my voice growing more and more alarmed. "They can help us! Our Quintessence supplies and harvests from this planet have never been so high!"_

" _It is_ against _the Galran ways to work alongside subordinates.," Zarkon tells me, his voice seething with rage._

 _Still, I do not stand down._

" _You can't look past the productivity, though," I remind him, hoping that I will get some kind of a different answer."_

" _I can when it would tarnish our reputation and be a complete waste of time and resources," Zarkon growls back at me._

 _I flinch but try not to show it and instead turn to the witch, begging her to see how wrong everything was._

 _But then she casts a spell upon me. And I crash to the ground, my vision going black as I see the witch stroll towards my friend…. The ruler of the planet I'm working beside._

" _No…" I breathe weakly before my mind gives out into emptiness._

 _And when I awake… the witch and Zarkon are standing before me, looking out a window._

 _And when I look to see what is out of the window, I immediately regret it, squeezing my eyes tightly shut in disbelief._

 _How could he_ do _this?_

 _How could he destroy that planet?_

 _All of those lives who were completely loyal and protective of me…._

 _And Zarkon and Haggar destroyed them._

Lotor opened his eyes abruptly, the sting of the vision still stinging in his vision.

He knew that that was a memory of his past. He knew that Zarkon had betrayed him and hurt him and… and killed the people he worked with.

And… Haggar— no— Honerva had helped. She had been there and she had done _nothing_.

She had let him suffer.

But she had also brought him back to life. And she looked so different now.

She acted differently, too. Maybe she really had changed.

Or maybe she was the same awful _witch_ who had tormented him in the past, unloving and uncaring.

Suddenly, the computer console in front of him started to beep aggressively, and Lotor was snapped out of his mind by the sound. Kova purred lightly and rubbed around Lotor's ankles.

He reached out to the computer and began to click the buttons to make the sound stop. He was nearing the planet that Honerva had sent him to. Olkarion.

But… he didn't want to think about Honerva. He needed time to think about what he had remembered. He needed time to process what he believed and what HOnerva really was for him.

So he turned off the the auto pilot and turned the ship around, heading away from Olkarie and off into space.

He needed something different. Something that was more interesting and _not_ related to Honerva.

He needed to figure out more about the universe.

...~...

"Come on! Let's look in there!" Lance pleaded, pointing at the Everything Earth store that he and Pidge had gotten their game system at.

"No," Keith said slowly. "We really need to find some clues."

Lance sighed but just bounded closer to Keith, unsure what their real plan was. "But it's the earth store!" Lance said, trying to get Keith to go inside.

"We were just _at_ earth," Keith rolled his eyes, keeping up his quick pace.

"Yeah, but it is so funny to see what they think our earth things actually do," Lance smiled. "I mean… they get everything so wrong."

Lance watched as he saw the corner of Keith's mouth twitch upwards in an _almost_ smile.

They continued walking for a moment in silence before nerves got to Lance again and he was talking again. "So… what exactly are we looking for, team leader?"

Keith glanced at Lance and then slowed his pace until he paused. "...I… I don't really know. We need to ask people about what has been going on in the galra empire. So maybe it would be best to just start asking some random people."

"When do you ever walk up to random people?" Lance joked. "You're the lone wolf."

Keith glared at Lance. "Lance… I get that I've been distant, but I am trying to connect with the team more."

"I know," Lance swallowed, "It's just… you left us, Keith."

Keith closed his eyes, turning his head away from Lance and not answering.

"Keith…" Lance started, "Why did you leave m— the team?"

Keith turned his body away from Lance, closing himself in. They stood in an awkward pause of silence.

Lance thought about the other day when they were sitting on top of Black and everything had seemed so calm and… nice. But here they were again, things being quiet and awkward and Lance having so many questions that Keith wouldn't help answer.

Keith paused, opening his mouth like he was going to say something and then he closed his mouth again, starting to walk forward and away from Lance. "We need to get going. We are going to meet back with the rest of the team in a varga and we are _not_ going to show up without any information."

"Okay," Lance sighed, following behind Keith despite his desire to ask more questions. It was so annoying that Keith wouldn't… talk.

Not that Lance knew what he wanted Keith to say.

Everything had been different since he had left. He was no longer Lance's arguing partner. He was the team leader.

But… Lance still felt like there was _something_ that they needed to talk about to clear the air.

"There," Keith pointed to a tall, strict standing Galra who looked like he was surveying everyone. "I bet he has some information about what's been happening."

"Yeah, okay," Lance agreed, feigning indifference. "I'll still learn more than you will."

Keith scoffed and rolled his eyes, increasing his walking pace to be more brisk and purposeful. Lance followed a step behind him while they walked towards the Galra. He looked like he used to be a soldier— and maybe he still was— who didn't know how to live a normal civilian life. He wore an awkward hoodie with the hood pulled up over his large bushy ears making it bulge, a pair of slacks that were too nice for the rest of the outfit, and boots that reminded Lance of soldier's boots.

Keith, already taking charge, was the first one to walk up to the Galra. "Excuse me," he said authoritatively. The Galra looked down at them, eyeing them up and down disdainfully.

"What is your position in the Galra?" Keith asked slowly.

"My position?" the Galra asked, quirking an eyebrow up in confusion.

"Yeah!" Lance shouted, stepping up close to the Galra, trying to make himself seem taller, "Who do you work for?!"

"Whoa!" Keith said, pulling Lance back away from the Galra by his shoulder. "Dial it back a bit, Lance."

"Um…" the Galra said slowly, pulling back towards the wall, trying to get away from the two of them.

"Don't you run from us. We're not done with you!" Lance glared.

"Lance!" Keith said, sharply, "We are trying to just ask a few questions."

"Um… I don't know…" the Galra started to stay slowly, still edging away from them.

"Sir, I'm sorry for my partner," Keith said with a scowl to Lance, "we just wanted to ask you what you think's going on in the Galra empire."

"That's an odd question to ask…" the Galra said, his eyes shifting around an not meeting either of theirs.

"We were gone for a couple years, you see," Keith told the Galra, "And we're a little lacking on politics right now."

"So do you think you could be even the smallest amount of help?" Lance asked, rolling his eyes.

"Okay…." the Galra said uncomfortably. "We had another Kral Zera but when we tried to have another line of succession, this weird altean lady showed up claiming to be Lotor's mother and therefore the leader or something. I'm not really sure!"

"Could you elaborate on this Altean?" Keith asked, his eyebrows creased in confusion. "Was she wearing a robe? Did she look like the witch who was always next to Zarkon?"

"She was really old… with long white hair," the Galra told him. "With orange marks that looked like claws or altean magic being dragged down her face."

Both Keith and Lance paused, trying to fit the Galra's description with their mental image of Haggar.

"Can I go now?" The Galra asked, glancing desperately between Keith and Lance.

"W-What was her name?" Keith asked, getting excited at the information.

"Um.. her name was Honor? Or something like that?" the galra told them nervously.

"Honerva?" Lance supplied.

"Yes? I think so?"

"Was that the name she gave or not!" Lance demanded and Keith pulled him back again.

"I'm sorry, Sir. We are just trying to find her. That's all," Keith told him calmly.

"I'm sorry," the former soldier told them edging away. Keith let him by and held Lance back so that the soldier could leave. "I just don't know that much… Everything has been pandemonium since Zarkon died…"

With that, the man turned and left, walking away from them quickly.

Lance and Keith stared at him as he left and then turned towards each other, dumbstruck.

"So Honerva… she tried to take over the galra. Not just the Alteans," Lance summarized.

"Yeah…" Keith agreed, "but… why were you acting like that?"

"I was being bad cop!" Lance said in defence. "I thought that you were being too nice so I decided to talk the more 'bad cop' role."

"So I was 'good cop'?" Keith snorted in amusement. "Isn't that a bit strange considering us?"

Lance smiled, leaning closer to Keith. "But that's what made it work. I was the one who intimidated him and it worked."

Keith rolled his eyes and glanced at the clock. "We should probably head back to the group to rendezvous…" Keith said with the hint of a smile ghosting across his lips. "We have to report what we've found and see if anyone has found anything else."

"Okay," Lance said, back to his former cheerfulness. "I still think I got more information out of that galra soldier than you did. And I bet we found more information than the other pairs."

"Why is everything a competition with you?" Keith asked as they started walking.

Lance shrugged. "Because it's so much fun! I really enjoy teasing you so that's why I do it. And you play along with me."

"True. I suppose that I do," Keith said, walking slightly faster than Lance so that Lance couldn't see his face.

"Oh walking faster than me, are you?" Lance smirked. "I'll just have to race you back." Lance started walking faster until he was almost jogging and spun around to salute Keith as he pulled away. When he did, he swore that Keith's cheeks were tinged red. Before he could think about it, Lance winked and saluted Keith and turned away to race back to the group, not letting his mind dwell on what he had seen.

"A-Alright!" Keith shouted, racing after Lance. "But I've had more practice running than you!"

...~...

Allura wandered through the mall in a daze, her eyes glassed over and not noticing much of anything.

How could she have lost Luca? Was there anything that she could have done?

Was it her fault?

Allura shook her head. She knew that she had already grieved. She hadn't even known Luca… she couldn't imagine what Romelle was going through.

But she had to be strong. She had to lead… she had to be apart of Voltron.

Allura forced her head up, looking around the mall and taking in all of the people in a giant blur. She didn't even know what she was looking for.

Drifting through the mall slowly, Allura tried to get her mind to focus on something, anything.

And then she… she saw…. She saw him.

Allura stopped dead in her tracks, shocked. What had she just seen? Her… her mind was playing tricks on her.

That had to be it. She couldn't have seen _him_.

 _He_ was gone. _He_ was dead. Lost.

But the flip of that white hair around the corner…

Allura took off running, needing to be sure that she was just insane and wasn't actually seeing him.

Through the isles of the mall, the signs, and the people, Allura dashed and dodged, her vision clouding over with panic and nerves.

She didn't see him. Anywhere.

She knew it; she was just insane and not able to think clearly because of all that had happened. She had thought that she was over him. At least… she had thought that she was starting to move on.

But she could have sworn that she saw _him_.

She had seen his long, luscious white hair, light purple skin, and he carried himself as though he had a purpose.

It had to be him. But she couldn't see him anywhere. Nothing more than that first glance.

Allura turned away, knowing that she had to go back to the others fairly soon, anyway. But, just as she turned around, she saw a figure standing, slightly taller than the rest of the crowd, his eyes piercing into hers.

It was him.

She was sure of it.

...~...

Even when she looked back and he wasn't there.

She knew that it was him.

Everyone gathered together after a couple of vargas of searching. When Keith and Lance arrived back at their meeting place, Pidge, Hunk, and Allura were already there.

Allura was slumped against the wall, her arms crossed and her head turned down while Pidge and Hunk were talking about coordinates and time to travel distance.

"Hi!" Lance greeted as he ran up to the others, barely a step behind Keith.

"Whoa!" Pidge commented, turning towards Lance and Keith. "Did you guys sprint here or something?"

"Keith got us lost," Lance told them. "It's all his fault. Blame him."

"No!" Keith argued indignantly. "You were the one who swerved in front of me and took a left when we should have taken a right! Your fault. And I _totally_ won."

"I call foul play," Lance bickered, shaking his head, "You purposefully took a wrong turn. I'm betting it."

"I did not!" Keith argued.

"You two sound like a mix between five-year-olds and an old married couple," Pidge muttered, shaking their head in exasperation.

"We do not!" Lance and Keith protested in near-unison.

"HIII EVERYONE!"

Lance turned around abruptly to see Adam walking briskly towards them, waving and smiling. He had his arm around Shiro's shoulder and seemed to be holding something in his other hand.

"What… what is that?" Keith asked incredulously as the two of them got closer to the group.

"It's a RAINBOW COW!" Adam announced, holding out the plush, rainbow-spotted cow for everyone to see.

"Kaltenecker," Shiro clarified.

"Right! Like the cow— Kaltenecker— you guys brought back from space," Adam nodded. "We got him from the Earth store. It's _hilarious_ in there. Takashi got me a Kaltenecker and I got him this shirt."

Adam pulled at Shiro until he showed the shirt that was tucked under his arm. It was a bright, neon yellow, with glaring contrasting pink letters that read 'Kiss the Cook.'

Beaming at everyone, Adam explained the shirt, "See, Takashi can't cook to save his life so it's irony."

"Adam's right," Keith agreed. "I swear. He tried to cook pasta without the water in the pot."

Pidge blinked, "Did he serve it to you?"

"Yes," Keith replied.

"We'll just say that I do the baking," Adam smirked.

"And I've _missed_ your cooking!" Shiro lamented, leaning up against Adam. "All we had to eat in space was space goo."

"Hey!" Hunk protested indignantly. "I quite liked the space goo and I _very often_ made meals for you!"

"That is true!" Lance agreed. "Hunk's food kept us from starving or turning into the goo we ate. Or from having to eat Coran's horrible 'hero' meals."

"I still think Adam's are better," Shiro smiled. "Plus, when I was studying at the garrison, he would make me food when it was three a.m. and I was forced to stay up all night studying and I would get hungry."

"And if I was asleep," Adam sighed, "you would wake me up and beg me to make you food."

"Yeah," Shiro smiled, remembering the times with Adam.

There was a slight pause of silence before Allura spoke up, her voice annoyed and her arms crossed over her chest. "Has anyone found any information of use or are we just going to keep chatting while the universe is suffering?"

"You're right," Keith said, stepping up. "Lance and I found someone whom I assume to be a former Galran soldier and we interviewed him. We learned that Honerva tried to take lead during the last Kral Zera, by claiming to be Lotor's mother."

"Also," Lance interjected, "Honerva supposedly looks different. More altean and less… witch-y."

"...I think… I think I remember that," Shiro said slowly, his previously joking and light voice turning serious. "From when I was a… you know…. I think I had vision of her looking more Altean like the pictures in old books."

"Honerva," Allura said quietly. "I used to respect her… I still can't believe that that awful witch is really the once great scientist…"

"Allura," Pidge asked softly, "What's the matter?"

Allura shook her head. "Um… first, what did you and Hunk find?"

"We got rumors of a large robot heading to or arriving at Olkarion?" Hunk said, taking up the information for Pidge. "We're not sure. But it sounded like Earth wasn't the only planet who was attacked by those robot things… I think that Honerva may be constructing a robot army to harvest quintessence from planets and to destroy them and their inhabitants."

Hunk folded his hands behind him. "I really hope that we're wrong."

"I'm worried about Olkarion," Pidge confessed. "They have such a good strong life force there. They're so connected. If… if all of that was destroyed… if _they—_ the Olkarie— were destroyed..."

Hunk took a step closer and placed his hand on Pidge's shoulder comfortingly. "It's okay. We'll help them. We'll find them."

There was a pause through the group before Shiro spoke up. "We didn't find as much… but we learned that there have been multiple divisions and clans forming, sort of like those that Ezor and Zethrid were apart of. They've been keeping up some of the older galra ways— pillaging and pilfering. But I don't think that Honerva is apart of any of those…"

Everyone nodded dully, having no real comments on the information.

"Allura?" Pidge asked softly.

"I'm fine!" Allura snapped. "Nothing is wrong! Nothing at all!"

"I was going to ask what information you found…" Pidge said slowly, "but it seems that something else is on your mind?"

Allura turned away from the group, scowling.

"I saw him," she spat out, glaring at the ground.

"You saw who?" Pidge asked, taking a step towards Allura.

Allura said nothing. Lance glanced at Keith wondering if he knew what was happening, but Keith merely shook his head, his eyes wide and never leaving Lance's.

"Allura," Shiro said softly, "We can help you. Keeping secrets only tears this team apart. It's better if we stay together."

Allura put her hands to her face, cupping them and covering her eyes. "I thought I saw Lotor— no, I _swore_ that I saw Lotor."

"Lotor?!" Lance cried in bewilderment.

"Lotor?!" Keith said a second later, blinking in confusion. "He couldn't possibly have escaped from the quintessence field. There's no way…"

"Unless…" Hunk said, hesitating.

"Unless Honerva got him out," Pidge finished, looking out into the distance.

"But… when would she have gotten him out?" Shiro asked, "Years ago? Months? We were gone for three years so she could have gotten him out at any point within that time."

"He looked the same…" Allura murmured quietly.

"We don't _know_ that this was Lotor," Keith said, trying to placate everyone.

"If Allura says she saw Lotor—" Lance started to say.

"Then we have to _consider_ that Lotor might still be alive," Keith announced loudly. "It is a possibility— a real one— but the chances of him even surviving a few more minutes in the quintessence field are so slim…"

"But time was distorted there," Hunk reminded them. "That's why we came out three years later…"

"I know!" Allura shouted, quieting everyone's theories immediately. "I know," she said in a more level voice. "But I _swear_ , despite how improbable it is, despite how much I don't want it, I think Lotor is back."

"Then… what should we do next?" Hunk asked quietly. Everyone's eyes turned towards Keith who froze as though he were caught unprepared under a spotlight.

"I…I…" Keith stuttered for a moment, panicking under the pressure of facing everyone. He glanced at Shiro who nodded reassuringly towards him.

Keith gave him the briefest smile in return and then returned his gaze to the rest of the paladins— moving his eyes from Allura to Pidge to Hunk and then finally resting his eyes on Lance for half a second longer than he knew he should.

"I think we should go to Olkarion. If they are in trouble… we need to help them. And they might be able to tell us something about Honerva… and Lotor."

"What should we do if… if Lotor is back?" Lance asked quietly.

Keith had to stop himself from taking a step towards Lance. Instead he closed his eyes, composing himself before answering. "I think that we should keep an eye out, and look for anything that might be of suspicion. And if we happen to find him, we should try to apprehend him and see what he remembers or knows."

"Didn't Zarkon forget who he was before the quintessence?" Hunk asked.

"Yes," Allura replied, her voice clipped.

"So we might be facing a zombie monster," Pidge sighed, not asking a question.

Everyone nodded, their heads downcast and their actions subdued.

"Well…" Adam said, breaking the silence. "As the only one who doesn't know what is happening, I would like to be caught up on all of this and I would like to see some nice and good alien species."

Shiro smiled and grabbed his hand. "I think that sounds like an excellent idea. Keith?"

Keith smiled faintly and turned to the rest of the group. "Let's head out!"

...~...

Who… who was she?

Lotor couldn't get her out of his head.

He had only seen her in fleeting glances at the mall but she seemed _so_ familiar.

Like Lotor had known her… like he had been close to her before.

Like she was someone important.


	4. Episode 4

Keith~

"We're coming up on Olkarion," Pidge announced nervously through the comms. Keith wanted to say something motivational and helpful but his mind was empty.

Instead he replied, "Copy. Paladins, get to your lions."

Keith stood up from the table and looked at Hunk and Lance, also wishing he could say something to them. They had been eating in awkward silence for the last thirty dobashes. Keith was trying to control himself from glancing at Lance too frequently or asking questions about him and Allura. He knew that something had happened between them— there was a clear distance that hadn't been there before— but he didn't know if that was a good thing.

"It's already time?" Lance asked, meeting Keith's eyes for the first time since their team-up at the mall.

Keith nodded, turning around quickly and clearing his throat.

He knew that Lance was wondering what was wrong with him. He knew that Lance had questions since Keith had returned from the quantum abyss. Questions that Keith had procrastinated on while they were flying back to Earth, only succeeding in prolonging and enlarging the awkward gap that had been created.

"Yes. It's time to go," Keith restated to them before walking briskly away to the Black Lion.

Where was that nice relationship that they had had before Keith left? He missed them talking nicely to each other. Joking, teasing, and supporting each other.

It had been so nice.

But then Keith had left because he…

Keith shook his head, refusing to let himself dwell on those thoughts. Maybe one day he would have to face them, but that day wasn't today. Today he had to go lead while they found out what was happening on Olkarion… while they saw what destruction Haggar had caused.

Before he knew it, Keith had reached Black and was climbing in. It still felt foreign to him. Red would always be his lion. But he would happily fly Black if he was able to help La— everyone.

Soon enough, everyone was out in space with the Atlas flying beside them. Keith made sure that the comms were working between Shiro in the Atlas and Voltron before everyone began to fly out.

They had planned to let the Atlas sit in space while Voltron explored Olkarion to see if they could gather any intel on what had happened to the Olkari or to Honerva.

"Should we form Voltron?" Pidge asked nervously.

"No," Keith decided after a momentary pause. "We don't want to land with Volton if they've been intimidated with robeasts. And I think this is one of those missions we will be landing and searching the planet."

"Is there a chance that everyone is okay?" Hunk asked nervously.

Keith was about to attempt to cheer Hunk up, being a supportive team leader and all, but before he could, Lance was shouting through the comms, "GUYS?! WE HAVE SOMETHING HUGE AND ANGRY CHASING US."

Everyone panicked, looking around frantically to try to figure out what it was.

Hunk was the first to spot it. "It's a… it's a…"

"Weblum," Keith finished for him a cold dread seeping into his bones from his memories.

He remembered when he and Hunk had encountered a Weblum originally when they were trying to get Scaultrite lenses from its stomach. It had not been an experience that Keith was jumping to relive.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Keith shouted. "AVOID ITS HEAD OR YOU'RE DEAD!"

Everyone darted out of their already broken formation and scattered to avoid the Weblum.

"Oh, yeah! That was the rhyme Coran used!" Hunk said cheerfully.

Behind him, the weblum started to charge up a blast from its mouth. Hunk, lagging behind, panicked with a yelp and cried, "We have to avoid its face and its body and EVERYTHING about it!"

"Why is a weblum here?" Allura asked frantically. "Unless…"

"Unless what?" Pidge asked nervously.

"Unless… Olkarion is…"

"A dead planet," Lance finished, his lion stopped in space, looking away from the weblem.

Keith flew Black up beside Red and looked at what Lance was looking at. Through the space debris, he could see Olkarion… except it looked grey and brown and _dead_.

"Oh god," Hunk whispered stopping beside them.

"LOOK OUT!" Pidge shouted and they scattered, avoiding the Weblum coming at them.

"Do you guys happen to remember _how_ to get a Weblum off of your tail?" Lance asked, narrowly dodging a beam that shot out of the creature's mouth.

"Um," Hunk stated helpfully. "I don't really remember…"

"Neither do I. That was well more than two years, for me," Keith added. "And Coran's video wasn't helpful."

"Try calling him again!" Allura suggested, flying as fast as she could.

Keith sighed but tried to contact Shiro over the comms. "Shiro? Could you get Coran here? It's urgent."

"What?" Shiro said, his voice crackling in and out. "Coran?"

"Yes!" Keith shouted, hoping his voice carried through the comms.

"Yes?" Coran said, his voice crackling merrily through the comms. "Wha— my boy?"

"Coran," Keith said through the comms, trying to keep the stress out of his voice, "We were wondering if you could give us any more information on Weblums."

"What's wrong? Just a curi-ty?" Coran asked.

"We need to know. We're being… attacked," Keith said slowly.

"YOU COULD SAY THAT!" Hunk shouted.

"Okay! Gl-d you're taking… inter-t! Weblums are gen-ly peace— -tures" Coran said, his voice still cutting out.

"So first, you want to… because… you will… difficul— not dying," Coran told them. "Next… and WHOO boy if you forget… dead. Finally, Make _sure_ , and I do mean absolutely sure, that you avoid…"

"Got it?" Coran asked.

"NO!" Hunk shouted. "NO WE DIDN'T."

"Jolly good Paladins! Well BaeBae got into some trouble so I'm going to leave you to your Weblum learning fun!"

"CORAN!" Pidge cried, but Coran was already gone. "Ignore the dog! Help _us_ to live!"

"Every time!" Keith grumbled. "Okay! Everyone! We need to to avoid it's head. It's head is death. Other than that, let's try to get to Olkarion."

"Alright, team leader!" Lance replied.

Everyone started to fly away in different directions, avoiding the weblem as best as they could.

Keith noticed that Lance had no trouble, Red being fast enough to avoid all of the energy beams of the Weblum. Pidge and Allura also seemed to be managing fine. Hunk ended up being slower than the others because of his Lion, but Keith held back to help distract the weblum until they were able to escape through the meteor dust and into the surrounding space debris.

Everything seemed to quiet down as they approached Olkarion.

The silence was oppressing and unsettling, with the worry of the Weblum not far behind them.

"Do you think that…" Pidge paused, their voice hesitating. "Do you think that… that the Olkari are okay?"

Everyone was quiet. No one had an answer as they all flew towards the dead and lifeless planet that was once so green and luscious.

"The… the Olkari were a strong and resourceful people," Allura said.

"But strong doesn't mean they survived," Hunk whispered softly.

Keith didn't know what to say. He didn't know how to be a leader. He could so easily see landing on that planet and seeing nothing but ashes and destruction.

Even Earth suffered… Keith himself knew that Adam had almost died, along with another billion soldiers and civilians.

"We… we have to see," Keith said. "Just… expect there to be nothing. We might not be able to stay long, though, before that creature comes to eat this planet."

"Is that what Weblums do?" Lance asked.

"Yes," Allura replied. "It's a strange kind of beauty. The weblums destroy the planets and then convert them into a new kind of energy that allows for the formation of new planets."

"That doesn't mean that…" Pidge cut themself off, deciding not to continue.

"That doesn't mean that you aren't sad," Lance answered softly. "I know… I know how you feel, Pidge. I was so homesick for earth… and… and when I heard it was under attack, It was like everything in the universe was only a step away from being destroyed for me. It was like I was barely held together."

No one knew how to reply. Keith rather wished that he could go over into Red and somehow comfort Lance. He, too, knew what it was like to have his world shaken. When he had lost his dad… Shiro… Adam…

"I'm sorry," Lance said over the speakers, his voice sounding less uncertain and more full. More forced. "That was dumb… It didn't make much sense."

" _No_ ," Keith snapped back sharply, forgetting that the other paladins were listening. "You aren't dumb for feeling that way because _everyone_ feels that way sometimes. And you missed your family. We all did. We all still do. The way that you phased that was beautiful and eloquent and I understand where you are coming from, Lance."

Keith stopped himself from saying anything more. He knew in the back of his mind that it wasn't a good idea to keep talking and yet he wanted to.

"...Th-thank you," Lance spluttered genuinely. "Thank you, Keith."

Also, thankfully, Keith was spared from having to say anything more by them approaching the planet, breaking through the atmosphere and reaching the surface of the planet.

The planet that had once been green and beautiful and full of life.

But was now only full of grey and dust and death.

"Oh my god," Pidge whispered.

"How?" Hunk asked softly, his voice welled with emotion.

"Honerva… and those awful robots," Keith said, his voice filled with spite.

The group was silent, watching the destruction in awe as they flew through the main city in Olkarion.

Everything was ruins.

None of the buildings were holding together anymore.

"We should set down here," Keith announced to the group, angling the Black lion towards the rubble strewn ground. "We need to see if there are any survivors… or if we can find any information at all."

~..

Pidge~

Pidge stepped out of the green lion in a daze. They felt as though everything was a dream… or maybe a nightmare…

How could everything have gone so wrong? How could they have saved Earth but been unable to save Olkarion? How could they have missed three years of their lives in the universe and have everything in the world be destroyed?

If only Pidge could have been here.

If only Pidge could have saved them.

Everyone gathered together in a clearing of the rubble.

"It's so quiet…" Lance observed, his voice quieter than usual. "I can't believe… "

"Any of this," Hunk supplied, his eyes downcast as though he couldn't take in any more of the rubble.

"Do… do you see any bodies?" Allura asked.

Pidge wiped at their eyes, forcing themself to look around to see if they could see any bodies. But the more they looked, the more their hopes grew. "No… no I don't!" Pidge couldn't keep the excitement out of their voice. "Does that mean that… that they're safe? Did the Olkari escape?"

"I… we can't be sure," Allura said slowly.

"But there aren't any bodies that I can see," Lance assured them.

"Okay, we don't have much time…" Keith started to say to them as they all stood around in a circle.

But as they stood listening, Pidge swore that they heard rustling behind them.

Desperately, Pidge looked around, hoping that they could spy something of interest… life… movement… anything.

The more they looked, the more they _swore_ they saw movement. The fluttering of a cloth….

Without saying anything, Pidge turned towards the group and raised a finger to their lips, pointing at themself, and then gesturing for them to be loud but not mention Pidge leaving as they slowly crept away.

"SO!" Hunk said overly loudly. "ARE WE PLANNING A SCOUTING MISSION?!"

Keith gestured frantically for Hunk to cut it out and interjected, "NO. Um. First! We need to… have our computers check the atmosphere!"

"Yeah!" Lance agreed cheerfully, "We have to make sure the air is breathable…. And stuff…"

"Great addition, Lance," Keith muttered, rolling his eyes.

Pidge snorted lightly to themself as they darted away, light and agile on their feet. They had no idea what they were going to encounter but they were wary. It could be the galra or the other alteans or some other creature like Macidus. Or maybe it was the Olkari. Maybe they had survived?

Pidge could only hope that it was a surviving group of Olkari who would be able to tell them what happened, help them to fight, and, most importantly, some people they could save.

The more Pidge thought about it, the more they realized that if all of the Olkari were dead, then an entire, extremely advanced, civilization would be wiped out for forever. Pidge might be the only one who remembered how their society functioned and how they had prospered and how their technology functioned.

They almost wondered if there was any of the technology that could be saved…

No, it wasn't the time. They needed to focus on these creatures, people… whatevers that were in front of them.

Pidge crept around behind them and peered over some rocks and debris, trying to get a view. They would see at least five figures clustered together and cloaked, but they didn't know if there were other ones nearby just watching and waiting.

And, most disappointingly, Pidge couldn't make out anything about them.

They pulled their bayard from storage on their suit and crept up behind, not sure how to handle things.

They glanced back at their group of friends, clearly visible from this spot as they attempted to hold a conversation to buy Pidge time. Pidge knew that they would have the support of their friends if anything went awry.

Sealing away their anxieties and nerves, Pidge cleared their throat, holding their bayard up intimidatingly and waiting for the group to turn around.

The first of the figures turned around and Pidge gasped as they saw the figure of the Olkari.

"You… you guys are alive?" They mumbled through their hand, too shocked to even react properly.

"Pidge?" the Olkari asked slowly.

Pidge scanned their faces. They ranged from elderly to children, seeming to have no rhyme or reason to their group as they huddled together. But Pidge didn't see the one she was really looking for: Ryner.

"I… I worked with Ryner," the first Olkari said, stepping up towards Pidge. "She talked about you a lot."

"Where… where is she?" Pidge choked out which was not the question that they had intended to ask, but the one they wanted to ask.

Everyone lowered their heads solemnly.

"No…" Pidge breathed taking a step back hastily.

"She… Ryner died to protect all of us. We are the last survivors of this planet and we honor her memory," the first Olkari continued.

"No," Pidge repeated, not knowing what else to say. "No! It can't be true!" They took a step backwards again as their vision blurred with tears and they stepped on a loose rock, slipping and falling backwards onto their backside. Pidge stayed there, on the ground, hoping that someone would tell them that it was all a joke. That they weren't being serious and they were just checking to ensure that Pidge wasn't some Galra or evil Altean in disguise.

A little girl, a young Olkari with wide brilliant eyes and soft features walked up towards Pidge and held out her hand as though to help Pidge stand up. "It's okay… we miss her too. But she died valiantly to protect us!" The little girl cheered.

Pidge wanted to cover their ears and block out everything. This couldn't be happening.

And then Pidge felt arms around them as the young girl wrapped them up in an awkward hug, holding them close and squeezing them for good measure. "We're here for you. If you'll be there for us?"

"Yes. Yes, of course," Pidge told the young Olkari, wiping at their eyes as they pulled back from the hug. They knew that this wasn't the time to show grief. They had a job to do… before a giant space worm came to eat them all.

Pidge stood up shakily. "I'm sorry for crying I just…"

"We understand," another in the group said, smiling lopsidedly. "We lost out leader too."

Just then, Keith called Pidge on their comm. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes," Pidge choked, their voice still warbilly and uncertain. "I found a group of Olkari survivors and I'm questioning them now to see what happened here."

"Okay… but you should probably hurry with the questions and save them for later if you can. The Weblum is getting closer."

Pidge winced and forced themself to focus on the task ahead of them.

"What happened here?" They asked as they started edging back towards the other paladins.

"This giant white robot came out of nowhere," one of the Olkari piped up. "It started using these glowing purple blades to suck up this planet's power. Ryner could feel the life force leaving this planet so she focused her mind and bonded with the forest to try to fight back with this robot and protect Olkarion with the best weapons we had.

"But the other robot was too powerful," the Olkari all lowered their heads in mourning once again. "It destroyed Ryner's creation and the planet. The last thing that we knew Ryner was saying was for us to try to escape. Some of the Olkari were able to get off of the planet in escape shuttles… but we wanted to stay behind to protect Ryner as she made a last stand to protect the planet and buy the escapees some time."

A small child peaked out from around the leg of their mother, looking up with wide eyes at Pidge. "I didn't want to leave auntie Ryner here by herself. We wanted to help her."

Pidge knelt down next to the child and placed their hand on top of the child's shoulder comfortingly. "I'm amazed that you are alive, little one," Pidge chuckled. "You, all of you, were extremely noble for protecting the rest of your kind. Do you know where they went?"

Pidge stood up and looked at each of the Olkari in turn. They wanted to ask more questions about Ryner and how exactly she had died protecting the planet and whether the technology of the planet had been rescued and evacuated. But they didn't' want to deal with questions like that, at the moment. It was more important for them to get this group of Olkari off of the planet.

"Yes," said an older Olkari with thick glasses resting crookedly on his face. "We can direct you on how to get there?"

Pidge smiled and agreed, "We have to get back to my friends, the other paladins. We can have you all get into the lions and we can get out of here. But we need to do so quickly. A Weblum is coming to eat this planet."

"A weblum?!" the older Olkari cried in surprise. Pidge noticed that his glasses had spider web cracks all throughout them. For the millionth time, they wondered what this group had been through and how they had survived.

"This planet is dying," Pidge shrugged, turning and heading towards the other Paladins. "Do you know of any other survivors or are you all that's left?"

The group shook their head collectively. "Everyone else either escaped or…" one of them pointed to the heaping piles of rubble and ruins that lay all around them. Pidge could only imagine the destruction that the planet must have gone through. Even to just destroy that number of trees would be difficult to do so quickly and had thought that the planet could endure anything.

"Come on," Pidge offered their hand to the little Olkari child who took it gladly as they started walking briskly away, swinging their arm with the child to give her some mild entertainment.

The rest of the group followed and soon everyone was gathered in the middle of the lions.

"We have to go _NOW!_ " Keith groaned, glancing uneasily at the sky as though the Weblum was about to appear above them instantaneously.

"We just need to divide up the Olkari and each take a few in our lions," Hunk said, already controlling the crowd and efficiently getting everyone to enter different lions based on how many each could hold.

Pidge held onto the hand of the child and ensured that the mother was there, too, as they directed the pair onto their own lion. The guy with the glasses also was sent towards Green and Pidge. Pidge welcomed him and ushered him and the others inside of Green.

After everyone was inside of lions except for the Paladins, Pidge rushed back and joined the discussion.

"Hey," they greeted, slightly out of breath, "I think the Olkari know where to go."

"Okay then," Keith said uncertainty looking around the group. "We should escape the weblem… and then find where the other Olkari are— where they located to."

"Yes," Lance said with certainty, taking a step closer to Keith and standing on his right-hand side, as he did in Voltron. "We'll be able to escape the Weblum and then we can regroup back at the Atlas before deciding where our next location is."

Keith looked gratefully at Lance and then nodded. "Exactly as Lance said. But first we need to get past the Weblum and away from this planet."

Hunk~

Not again. Not again. NOT AGAIN.

He had had no interest in ever escaping from a giant space worm thing again. He had had no interest in ever even seeing one again. And he _definitely_ didn't want to go back inside of the Weblum.

Sure they were wonderful creatures of the universe. Like space bees. They helped out everyone. But that didn't mean he wanted to be close to one ever again.

So of course they had run into one and were trying to transport a large number of Olkari out of the planet while also trying to save themselves.

Piece of cake!

Hunk continued yelping as he did a barrel roll around the Weblum's side to stay out of it's eyesight.

It had been decided that ONCE AGAIN Hunk would be the distraction while the others got away. Lance, too, was helping with the speed of Red.

"And you guys went into this thing?" Lance yelled as he dodged frantically away from the Weblum's face.

"Yes," Keith said plainly.

"No thanks to Coran," Hunk grumbled as he kept weaving through the fins of the Weblum.

"When did he send you here?" Lance asked.

"Is this really the time for questions?" Allura called through the comm.

"Well I'm sorry," Lance muttered, clearly dejected. "I just like talking when I'm trying to avoid death. It keeps me from thinking about… well, death."

"He sent us here just after we found out that I was part Galra," Keith said, his voice sounding strained.

"Oh," Lance said quietly through the comm.

Hunk remembered that day, very well. He still felt bad about pestering Keith so much… Keith was Keith and he was always the same. Having an, epic, alien mom didn't change that.

But now wasn't the time for memories.

Unless Hunk could remember anything useful about the Weblum, but considering Coran wasn't very helpful the first time around, Hunk was guessing that the comms wouldn't work any better the second time.

"How long do we need to distract it?" Hunk asked Lance through the comm.

"Hopefully until Keith and the others get back to the Atlas," Lance replied. "Keith said he'd give us the signal."

"I don't remember him telling the group that," Hunk commented, his voice strained as he pulled a tight roll around the outside of the weblum.

"Oh," Lance muttered as he dodged again, narrowly escaping a blast of energy from the weblum's face. "I think that Keith just told me."

"Hmm," Hunk commented. He glanced at the comms system and checked that his communication was switched off with the other lions and was only broadcasting to Red's before he continued. "You and Keith have been working together better."

There was a slight pause but that could have been due to tricky flying. "I guess," Lance's voice came through the comm. "I am his right hand, after all."

Hunk wished that he could see Lance's face and ask him these questions in person. There was something off about his voice… almost as though it was slightly higher than it normally would be— a little more forced.

"Yeah," Hunk sighed , not really sure what point he wanted to make to Lance. "I don't know . It just seems like you two have been _… closer._ Since Keith got back."

"Well he was gone for two years for him," Lance said after a moment. "And I grew up in that time he was gone, as well. So we matured a bit and we took more responsibility."

"That's not what I'm talking about," Hunk said, his tone careful and slow.

"Then what are you saying?" Lance asked, forcing Hunk to spell it out for him.

Hunk sighed, dodged again and then paused , turning his lion so that he could look at Red. "I'm talking about everything. I don't know what. But something's happened between you two."

"What do you mean?" Lance asked and Hunk could just imagine him rolling his eyes and closing himself in.

"I mean that when I talked about the Voltron show hinting at Allura and Keith getting together, you had a complete outcry against it," Hunk probed.

"I did _not_ ," Lance argued childishly.

"And I thought it was because you were jealous over Allura but…"

"But what?" Lance asked defensively.

Hunk swallowed. He couldn't get Shiro and Adam out of his head. He hadn't expected Shiro to.. To have a boyfriend. It had surprised him… but at the same time he wasn't… surprised. He didn't know what he really thought.

"But… you went on a 'date' with Allura and nothing happened," Hunk said trying to turn the conversation.

Lance was silent for a moment. "Allura and I talked it out and… We're not right for each other right now. She still has too much pain from Lotor and I… I don't know."

"What don't you know?" Hunk pressed. "Look, man, I'm your best friend and have been since the early days at the Garrison. You can trust me."

"Hunk, buddy, I _do_ trust you," Lance said slowly. "But right now… right now I'm feeling some complicated emotions that I just want to sort out on my own."

Hunk couldn't help but huff to himself. He understood that, he really did, but he also felt like he was missing out on something important.

And… he felt like he had been neglecting Lance as a friend since him and Pidge had grown so close. Lance was always bickering with Keith so it had never felt like a big deal for Hunk and Pidge to hang out and talk about mathematical and scientific stuff.

But after Keith had left… Lance and grown more and more distant… until Hunk wasn't even sure what was going on inside of his brain half of the time.

Before he could say anything else, the comm light started blinking and Hunk pressed it, turning on the comms to the other lions.

"We've reached the Atlas," Keith reported. "Get out of there quickly and make sure you get back safe."

Hunk smiled to himself, almost wondering if that message wasn't exactly meant for him.

"Lance?" Hunk said as he pulled one last tricky dodge around the weblum and began escaping towards the Atlas.

"Yes?" Lance responde softly.

"I'm always here for you, man. Even if it seems like I'm busy, I'm always here for you."

Hunk couldn't hear anything on the other side of the comm. Nothing. They flew back in silence save for the occasional commentary made by either Pidge, Allura, or Keith about the status of them or the Weblum.

When they were close to the Atlas and far enough away from the Weblum that they were no longer in danger, Hunk heard Lance speak over the radio, "Hunk? Thank you."

And that was it.

Hunk smiled, wishing that he could hug Lance but knowing that he couldn't. Being there for him would have to be enough, for now.

~~...

"WHO IS SHE?" Lotor screamed at Honerva, tossing the pile of books on the nearby desk to the floor.

Off to the side, Kova hissed, arching his back with his tail puffed outwards.

"I don't know," Honerva said, backing away with an arm outstretched to keep Lotor at a distance. "I wasn't very involved in your life before…"

"Before I _died?"_ Lotor demanded, having already figured out what happened to him. "Is that what you were going to say?"

"Before I _Saved_ you," Honerva said, her voice full of spite as she lashed out the words.

"Still," Lotor growled, stepping closer to her, "You must know WHO SHE IS!"

"Why would I?" Honerva shouted, clicking buttons on the boards beside her.

Lotor lunged and grabbed her arms, keeping her arms held down against her sides while he leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "You would know because you were watching me. All of the time."

Honerva had the audacity to sneer as she looked at him. "Then describe her if you're so sure I'll know who is bothering you."

Lotor glared, dropping his hold on Honerva and taking a step back, straightening his clothes as he did. "Fine. She had long white hair, pointed ears, darker tanned skin, and pink altean marks under her eyes."

Honerva swallowed, glaring at her son before a malicious smile spread across her lips. "Well it just so happens that I _do_ know who your little princess is."

Lotor took a step closer, glaring at her.

"Come with me," Honerva said, stepping around and walking away.

"Why should I follow you when all I get is deception and lies?" Lotor snarled, pulling away from her grasp.

"Because I know information about your sweet altean," Honerva replied snidely.

Lotor glared at her, suspicious and untrusting of her intentions. But still… he was too curious. "Fine," he growled. "Tell me."

She shook her finger back and forth like the witch that she was. "Not yet Lotor. All in good time."

Lotor scowled at her but kept his mouth shut. "Yes… Honerva."

Reluctantly, he followed her outside to the crowd of assembled Alteans. He listened to her dull speech about conquest and spreading knowledge. He stood beside her as her son, brought from the dead to be their saviour reborn.

But the Alteans freaked him out. They… they almost seemed to worship him. They had a large stature of him and would refer to him as though he were some all-powerful, all-knowing being.

It unsettled him.

But Honerva just went with it and told Lotor to do the same.

The more that he was around her and influenced by her, the more that he felt that everything was off.

Maybe he didn't want to go with Honerva.

And… now that he thought about it, it seemed weird for her to be _so_ controlling. Maybe… maybe Lotor hadn't followed her and hadn't wanted anything to do with her…

Maybe it was all a ruse for her own agenda.

Lotor could feel his scowl deepening. He wanted to get answers. He needed them. And he had a feeling that the best way to do that, was to find the woman he had glimpsed in the mall. He had a connection to her— he didn't know what—-but she was important to him.

And maybe, she would help him to recover his memory.


	5. Episode 5

Note: So apparently I _didn't_ post this a month ago like I thought. Sorry! ^_^*

Hopefully I'll be posting more frequently now!

* * *

Pidge~

When they landed on the new Olkarion, Pidge felt like a weight was lifted off of their chest.

The new planet wasn't the same by any stretch. There were large rolling hills and an expansive desert on one area of the planet. The number of trees and jungles was greatly reduced, and the planet even had icy mountains at the poles.

It sort of reminded Pidge of Earth.

Just with a complex network of rivers and lakes instead of oceans.

But, when they touched down, Pidge felt as though everything was becoming whole again. They saw small huts formed from clay or tree branches and grass pulp. Blankets drying and fires blazing.

Yet, though lesser in number, the technology still existed plentifully, woven into their lives in the form of washing food and clothes and purifying water and growing edible crops and testing the effects on different crops to see how they could be used to best benefit the Olkari.

But the best part, the part that solidified the existence and safety of the Olkari for Pidge, was seeing their bright faces, smiling at them, as they landed with all of the refugees.

Pidge saw scientists that they had worked with previously and who they knew were trusted by Ryner. They saw a school of children peering around from the mats that they sat on.

They saw a thriving civilization rebuilding themselves.

And when Green opened up and the Olkari were able to file out, Pidge watched as parents ran to children and children to parents and siblings to siblings and friends to friends.

And it warmed their heart.

All of the time they were flying, the only thing that Pidge could think about was how much they wished that they hadn't disappeared. They wished that they hadn't been gone for three years so that they could have helped and saved them.

Maybe the paladins could have changed things.

But, despite it still hurting, it helped to know that they could still help. To know that they hadn't failed completely.

Shiro walked up and placed his hand on Pidge's shoulder. "You helped them reunite."

Pidge smiled softly.

"You helped these families find each other."

"Yeah," Pidge said warmly, a soft grin spreading across their face.

~~..

Keith~

"So, have you heard anything?" Keith asked. "Do you know where that huge Robeast came from or where it went?"

The Olkari in front of him shook her head solemnly. "I'm not sure. It was so hectic with all of... everything," She covered her face, a few tears slipping out the corners of her eyes. "I'm sorry... I... I lost my daughter in the crash."

Keith closed his eyes and nodded. "I'm so sorry for your loss. I wish... I wish we could be of more help. But that is why we are trying to find where this Robeast came from so we can prevent this from happening to anyone else."

"I... I think it was flying here," an older olkari beside the other said as he pointed at a 2D map. "I think I saw it flying off this way when we were escaping."

Keith pulled up a 3D holomap of the universe and gestured to where Olkarion was pointing. "Could you point me in the direction you think it went?"

"Um.. yeah..." the man said, standing up shakily with the help of a cane. The woman helped hold his arm so that he could stand up and he hobbled forward, jumping with every step.

Keith realized that the man was missing his left leg from the knee down. He hadn't noticed sooner because of the Olkari's robes but now Keith saw how the fabric fell in the area of the missing limb.

"I'm..." Keith started to apologize before the man looked at him with tired, exasperated eyes. Keith closed his mouth and bowed backwards, watching as the man stepped up to the map and traced the direction they had flown to reach the planet they were on now. Then, slowly and shakily, he traced a pathway away from Olkarion and towards a fairly unpopulated quadrant of the the universe.

"I think I saw it fly off this way when it was done."

"Did it arrive from that direction?"

"Yes," the olkari said slowly, unsurely.

Keith nodded. "Is there anything else you could tell us?"

The olkari paused. "Is... is that one, Pidge, with you?"

"Yes."

"Ryner asked me to give her some notes. I have them in my place. Just follow me and I'll help get it."

Keith nodded, stepping out of the way. He watched as the olkari strapped crutches to his wrists and used handholds to push himself forward, hoping and using his crutches more as legs than his one working leg.

"Don't pity me," the Olkari said as he began walking at a brisk pace, Keith a step behind him. "I've been like this for years and I'm used to it. There were many who were not as lucky as I am."

Keith pursed his lips. "I know what you mean... it is impressive how good you are at using those, though."

"Why, thank you," the Olkari said, tipping his head in gratitude.

After a short, mildly awkward, walk, they reached the olkari's hut and he ducked under a cloth doorway to get inside.

Keith expected darkness when he walked in, but instead he was greeted with light. There were a handful of small jars that contained fluttering glowing moths inside, illuminating the room in soft a blue-green glow.

Keith was staring around the room at the shadows when the old Okari whacked his hand and Keith looked down to see that the man was holding a small piece of technology. "Ryner asked to give this to the green one. She said that they would know what to do with it and what the information meant."

Keith smiled and shook the Olkari's hand. "I'm sure that they will. Thank you so much for your help."

The olkari tipped his head toward Keith, muttering "Happy to help," as Keith darted out of the room and to go find the others. He had some new information to share and maybe, just maybe, Ryner's notes would have some way that they could get some new information and know how to progress.

~~~...

Shiro~

"So… the general consensus is that we learned nearly nothing?" Shiro asked the group of assembled leaders.

They were in the Atlas's meeting room with everyone jumbled together so that they could all input new ideas.

"Basically," Lance sighed.

"Pidge is analysing the information that Ryner left right now," Hunk announced, "But from what they told me, it seemed like a lot of technology information and not a lot of 'alteans are planning things.'"

"So… what's the next step?" Shiro questioned, folding his hands on the table before him. "Should we go in the direction that Keith recommended and… what? See if we magically run into the small secluded Altean planet?"

"Maybe we could send out the MFEs and the lions in different formations in that direction to cover more ground," Krolia suggested.

"That still seems like a gamble," Iverson told them.

"Isn't everything we do a gamble?" Adam asked, leaning closer to Shiro. "I think this whole war is one big risk game where we don't know the outcome and have to keep shooting blindly in hopes that we will get a hit."

"Like a big game of battleship?" Lance suggested.

"Yes, Lance," Keith responded dryly, "Like giant battleship. In space."

"So… does anyone have any better ideas than spreading our forces out and searching?" Krolia asked staring at each of the leaders in turn. "We would have to supply every ship that we have in order to cover as much ground as possible with the Atlas in the center."

No one objected to the idea. No one had any better ones.

"Okay," Shiro said, standing up and pulling up a holographic 3D map of the universe, zooming in on where they were.

"The olkari that I talked to," Keith said, standing up and gesturing to the map, "Directed us to this direction. If we assume that the Robeast was headed in a straight line, then we would end up about here," he gestured to an area of space that was mostly deserted of planets, especially inhabited ones.

"I would have thought that Honerva would be hiding in a large cluster of planets. Like in plain sight," Lance commented.

"Strategically, that might make sense," Krolia interjected, "But at the same time, isolation makes more sense because then no one can stop by and investigate because they have no reason to suspect anything."

"Think of it like you have a _really_ weird neighbor," Adam told Lance. "If he lived two streets away by himself, would you ever want to go investigate? But if he was right next door, you would be more curious what he was doing, right?"

Lance chuckled. "You're right. That's a good analogy, by the way."

"Why, thank you," Adam said, bowing slightly in a joking manner.

"Anyway," Shiro continued, "Thank you for the analogy, Adam, but moving on to the problem, We would have to coordinate our flight paths so that our radar would pick up anything unusual.

Hunk stood up and walked around the map before reaching out and drawing shapes with the interactive map. "I think if we started from here and flew out in this direction…" Hunk drew a conal shape leading away from the old Olkarion and out into the new area where they hoped Honerva was located."We might get lucky enough to run into the new Altean planet."

"It has a low probability of being successful… but…" Shiro paused looking at everyone around the table. "I think it might be our best option."

The doors behind them opened and Shiro turned to look to see Pidge walking in, bags under their eyes. "Hey, guys," the said. "I finished the videos… um. There was nothing important. Ryner just left me instructions for some of the technology of Olkarion… some plans for the future that they had had. And some general life advice that Ryner had for the future… nothing that would help us though."

"Are you sure?" Allura asked, interjecting for the first time. "It is imperative that we find Honerva and stop her!"

"I know!" Pidge shouted in retaliation before sitting back down and closing their eyes, taking a deep breath. "I know," they said, calmer, "I watched the videos and read the papers— all of them— multiple times, but I didn't find _anything_."

"That's okay, Pidge," Lance said. "We all know that you're trying a lot. We all are. I think that the strategy we came up with might work though."

Hunk leaned over and whispered to Pidge to tell them what they had missed from the meeting.

"So we need to designate the squads," Shiro started to say just as an alarm started balaring through the speakers, quiet but persistent.

"What is that?" Krolia demanded, standing up.

"Are we under attack?" Adam asked Shiro.

"No," Keith said, "It's a ship approaching."

"Not a friendly ship," Allura growled. "It must be one of those robeasts."

"We don't know for sure," Hunk, always the mediator, said.

"We should look! Maybe it's a refugee ship?" Lance wondered.

"We need to get to the lions!" Allura shouted. "And then we can decide."

"Allura," Pidge snapped, "I get that you've been on edge since we left Earth, but we don't know for sure that the ship approaching is dangerous. It just _might_ be."

"Let's head up to the deck and look around," Shiro directed, "Try to connect communications if we can and see who we're dealing with."

Everyone heeded his orders in a panicked shuffle, moving as a group towards radar and windows and the main deck.

Once most of them had reached the main deck, they looked out the windows as the computers offered unhelpful warning about an unidentified spacecraft approaching.

"What kind of ship is that?" MFE pilot Griffin asked, pressing himself up against the front of the window to try to see the approaching ship.

Shiro pushed his way up to the window and took a look for himself. He saw a new ship approaching quickly. It didn't look like any ship he recognized but it almost seemed like it would fit alongside the robeasts with its silvery colors and smoothed edges.

Shiro turned back, walking briskly towards the Comm device at the central control panel. Along the way, he grabbed Adam's hand and dragged him beside him to the controls, needing the support.

"Get me a connection," Shiro ordered.

"On it," Veronica replied, already typing away at the control system.

"Link established!" she shouted after a moment.

Shiro took a deep breath. "Bring them through."

Adam squeezed his hand, smiling at him reassuringly. "You're going to do just fine Takashi. You've been through worse than this."

Shiro smiled at him gratefully. "Yeah, you're right."

And then the video communications pulled through.

And everyone took a collective step backwards, away from the screen while many of them whimpered in surprise and agitation.

"It can't be," Shiro heard Lance whisper.

"Lotor?" Shiro asked.

~~.

Allura~

Allura couldn't believe what she was seeing.

It couldn't be him.

It didn't matter if she had _thought_ she had seen him at the mall.

It couldn't be him.

"Lotor?" Allura blurted. She hadn't even realized it had been her who had spoken until her eyes darted around and she noticed a large number of people on the Atlas staring at her awkwardly.

 _Did they know?_

Allura flushed at the thought of her and Lotor. As she thought of all that had happen… of what they could have been.

But then she remembered Keith returning and telling everyone about his betrayal.

And how betrayed she had felt.

She had been destroyed.

How could he keep something like that a secret?

Why would he?

It didn't matter that he thought he was saving lives or helping people or _whatever_ , he had destroyed so many Alteans by manipulating and tricking them.

And tricking her.

Lotor tricked her and manipulated her so he could get all of the power that he craved.

And she had followed without a second thought, agreeing to his every desire and fawning over him like he was an almighty god.

She had been such an idiot.

Without fully thinking, Allura marched up to the control station and hovered by the command position, the position Shiro held.

"Have you linked communications?" Allura asked dead serious.

"No—" a crew member started to say before another butt into the conversation and said " _But_ we're getting right on that communication!"

Allura nodded, satisfied and held her position at the Captain's chair, waiting.

Eventually, the communications officer swallowed and opened her mouth slowly. "We… we have a line open. It's up to you and him on whether it's received or not."

Allura took a deep breath and held her hand over the button, her mind wavering.

Was she ready to hear his voice? Was she ready to… to interact with him again? To acknowledge him?

Before she could think about it any further and stop herself from potentially making a grave mistake, Allura squeezed her eyes shut and slammed her hand down on the button.

The event ended with an anticlimactic beeping as the call tried to reach through.

And then it stopped and Allura held her breath, waiting as quietly as she could, unable to stand the tension in the room.

A screen in front of them enlarged, broadcasted on the window of the ship with Lotor's face. He looked older somehow without having physically aged. His hair, once luscious and beautiful, was now destroyed and matted and more grey and beige than white. His eyes looked the most tired, bags underneath and the pupils smaller. Allura could almost swear that she could make out his fangs twice as well from what she used to be able to see.

"Hello there, Princess," Lotor remarked snidely.

"Lotor," Allura said slowly, trying the name on her tongue as she saw him in this new light. "Why have you come to us like this?"

"Why?" Lotor repeated exaggeratedly. "Why, why, why _indeed_."

 _That's it!_ Allura thought to herself. _He's lost it. He's gone completely insane in the time in the quantum abyss._

Allura saw movement from behind Lotor and a small furry thing jumped up into his lap, curling around and flicking it's ears.

"Is… is that a cat?" Allura asked, semi-stunned by seeing the creature.

"Yes," Lotor said defiantly as the cat stood up and hissed at the video of Allura that was no doubt being broadcasted to Lotor.

"That's… that's Kova!" Axca cried, flabbergasted as she stepped closer to the screen to get a better look. "It is! That's Kova!"

"Am… am I missing something?" Lance asked tentatively from the back edges of the group.

"Narti… our friend," Axca said, her eyes tearing up as she spoke, "Was bonded to this cat. Kova helped Narti to be able to see even though she was blind. Haggar, the witch, ended up using Narti and Kova as a means to watch Lotor and spy on him. It was effective until Lotor learned of what was really happening and ended up killing Narti as a way to prevent the witch's spying."

"So… the cat lived?" Hunk asked softly from the crowd.

"Yes," Allura replied.

"Kova is mine," Lotor told them simply. "He is bonded to me now. But that is irrelevant information I'm here to talk to you… _Princess."_

The way he said the name made Allura's skin crawl. There was nothing warm and caring like the words he used to speak. Nothing in his voice that made Allura think that he cared about her.

Or that he ever did.

" _Lotor_ ," she growled through her teeth.

"How did you get back from the Quintessence field?" Keith demanded, boldly taking a step forward to ask.

Lance was right behind him, walking quickly up to Keith and placing a hand onto his shoulder after hovering for a moment. "Keith…"

On the screen, Lotor smirked at them and stroked Kova like a mad scientist. "Oh, I had some help. But that doesn't really matter now does it?"

Allura swore she saw his eyes flash purple with power.

Was he turning into Zarkon? Exposed for barely a minute and mad with power?

"Then what are you trying to accomplish?" Allura demanded.

"I'm just looking into what my mother wants," Lotor replied snidely.

"Your mother?" Lance cried, crinkling his nose in shock. Allura knew why. Lotor had never admitted to Honerva being his mother before.

 _So what changed this time for him to change his mind?_ Allura thought to herself.

"And what might her plans be?" Keith asked, glancing a Lance out of the corner of his eyes.

"And why would I reveal that to you?" Lotor asked logically. "Why do you even believe that her plans are inherently evil? How are you sure?"

"We're not," Pidge said, finally stepping forward defiantly. "But we do do know that you are power hungry and insane. You were before the quintessence and you most definitely are afterwards."

"What is it that you even want you— you— sick twisted quiznak!" Allura yelled, fed up with this. Lotor had hurt her and she wasn't able to get past that. Maybe that made her petty. But… he had betrayed her and her feelings and she couldn't force herself to forgive him. And she was nowhere near trusting him.

Lotor smirked ever so slightly. "I wanted to find _you_ , of course!"

Allura had to bite her lip to keep from screaming at him. How in the world could he be so twisted and horrible? How could he be so persistent?

"Listen," Shiro said, his voice sounded cool and collected but Allura knew that from knowing him, he was struggling to keep it together. It was hard to know that they should talk and be reasonable when Lotor was being so... so _awful_! and it was hard knowing what he had done regardless of whatever reasons he may or may not have had. "I think that it might be best if we _try_ to hear what he has to say," Shiro said reasonably. That didn't mean that Allura wanted to listen to him.

"What makes you think that I'm so eager to talk and be pleasant?" Lotor asked snidely.

Allura turned around towards Shiro so her back was to the screen and gestured to Lotor like _See! This is what you want me to deal with?_!

"I for one," Lance started to say slowly, "think it might be good to hear what he has to say. I... I know!" he cried when everyone looked at him in surprise. But... haven't we all made mistakes? Haven't we all done questionable things from _someone's_ point of view."

"Lance is right," Hunk stepped up. Sometimes Allura really did hate how big of a heart he had. "I hated Lotor the entire time. I was always suspicious of him. But... that doesn't mean we didn't treat him like he was a part of our family and... I think he might be worth hearing out. Maybe just this once."

Allura felt rejected and betrayed, even though she knew where they were coming from.

"Regretfully," Keith said slowly, "I agree with Lance." He glanced at Lance and under his breath whispered "For once."

"Hey!" Lance protested quietly. "I heard that and I think that we tend to agree a lot more than once in a while."

Keith rolled his eyes but Allura swore that she saw a faint smile under his scowl.

"So?!" Lotor chimed in cherrily. "We're going to have a big reunion are we?"

"If you wish to," Allura said through gritted teeth. We will meet peacefully."

"Don't bring all of the lions. I don't want Voltron threatening me at knifepoint."

"Don't worry about that," Pidge added, their usual spunk back, "We're ready to fight with our own hands if it comes to that. I'm pretty sure we could overpower someone as scrawny as _Lotor_."

"Normally I would take offense to that," Lotor murmured as he leaned closer to the camera, "but right now I- ARGH!" he cut himself off, crying out in pain and clutching his head in agony. He looked sharply at Allura, his gaze searing into hers before he slammed a fist down on the control board of his ship and the screen shut down, leaving the room of the Atlas in stunned silence.

...

Lance~

"We have to go after him," Allura shouted. "We have to find him and detain him. He _cannot_ get back to Honerva and tell her what we're doing and what's happening to us here."

"What I think," Lance stepped in, "is that we need to talk to him. Not go in with an attack plan but just talk to him some."

" _I_ think..." Shiro started slowly, "That Lotor may be experiencing the same pain I did when Honerva was trying to take over my mind."

"What?!" the paladins cried while Adam stood up from his chair, slamming his hand down on the table nearby. "TAKASHI?!" he cried. "You were mind controlled? What? Why— Why didn't you tell me?"

Shiro started blushing and turned towards Adam slowly, taking his hand. "Yeah... I was... I'm better now. That's a story for another time.

Adam didn't look convinced but Shiro looked at him with pleading eyes and leaned up to kiss him. Adam accepted with a bashful smile. "Alright. But you have some explaining to do when we get out of," he gestured to the world around them, "all of this."

"Agreed," Shiro said softly as he nestled his head into Adam's shoulder.

Lance smiled at the display of affection. He might have been able to have that with Allura. But... she wasn't ready after Lotor. And it just... it just so didn't feel right to Lance.

Without noticing it, Lance glanced over to where Keith was standing stoeckly, his hair fluttering around his head in different waves.

Stupid mullet.

"Anyway," Pidge interrupted his thoughts, "I think Shiro might be right... I think that Lotor lost his memories and Honerva brainwashed him into believing that he was her son, which he is, but that that meant that he should help her and turn against us. Now, his having conflicting memories between the ones he used to have and the ones Honerva told him."

"I'm guessing that it wouldn't be too hard to turn him against us," Hunk interjected, "Considering he already kind of wanted to destroy us and we were only barely keeping him being our friend."

"I'm not so sure," Lance interjected. "I think that he was fine before. Sure, I didn't like him around, but I don't think he believed what he was doing was wrong. I think he believed that what he was doing was for a good cause and was a good thing in the world. I think that once he got into the quintessence, whatever mild power lust he had had before, became extreme and he was unable to control himself."

"He snapped," Keith whispered in agreement.

"But he still _had_ those tendencies beforehand," Allura argued, pain etched into her voice. "He was just good at hiding them until they became too strong to ignore."

"None of this arguing helps us decide _what_ we want to do," Krolia said as she stepped into the room, Kolivan just behind her.

"What we need to be doing is coming up with a battle plan," Kolivan announced. "We need to decide our next action and then move forward."

"The point I was trying to make earlier," Shiro said calmly, "was that there is a possibility that if he sees us, his mind will be reconfigured. He'll remember whatever memories he had previously blocked out and he will either remember us as his friends or as his enemies. Or both."

"The enemy of our enemy is our friend," Pidge quoted quietly. "Maybe he'll turn against Honerva. He never was on her side. So maybe he'll help us defeat her."

"But which is more dangerous...?" Krolia asked. "Lotor ruling or Honerva ruling?"

"I want to say Lotor," Allura announced, "but I know that Haggar is an extremely powerful witch and that she is planning something big, probably to wipe out a large part of the galaxy. So... I guess Haggar."

"Which is why it would be helpful to have Lotor on our side. If we can manage that," Kolivan announced.

Reluctantly, the paladins agreed.

Lance wasn't sure about meeting Lotor. He kept glancing at Allura. She had known him best and the betrayal had hurt her the most.

Keith... Keith on the other hand hadn't known Lotor at all except for being a horrible person. So having them both facing Lotor at the same time could lead to volatile reactions.

Lance was worried.

But eventually they decided on a battle plan, mostly of Kolivan's making with Shiro offering input every now and again.

Their plan was to use their ships to talk to Lotor from the safety of a nearby deserted planet. From Pidge's calculations, the atmosphere of the planet wasn't good to breath so they would need to stay in their suits which would offer them a better chance of escaping and fighting if it came to that. Originally, they were only going to have the five paladins go, but then they decided to have Shiro join as well in case he could be of any sympathy to Lotor. Adam pled to come as well, but there was no way that Shiro was going to let him get in the way of harm. So, Adam was going to stay behind, watching right next to Krolia who, also, wanted to accompany them.

Six paladins and one half Altean, half Galra, half zombie.

Lance was scared out of his mind, but that didn't mean it wasn't time to go.

"Everyone, to your lions!" Shiro announced valiantly before turning to give Adam one last goodbye. Though Lance sincerely hoped it wasn't goodbye and was merely 'see you in a bit.'

Everyone stood from the war room table— where they had been making their battle plans— and left, except for Lance.

He thought he was ready to face Lotor again.

But he wasn't sure that he was.

How could he be? This was the man who had betrayed them, fought them, and then robbed three years of their lives. And yet… they were going to try to be nice to him. And Lance was going to help them.

"Hey," Keith said as he sat down next to Lance, turned towards him and leaned on the table slightly. "Everything okay?"

Lance nodded, not meeting Keith's eyes. "I guess... I'm just... I'm scared. We don't know what Honerva is planning. We don't know if this is a trap. We don't know if Lotor is about to kill each an every one of us. Yet we have to go and hope for the best. And... that's stupid!"

"It's war, Lance," Keith said. His voice was rough but not uncaring. In fact, it sounded like Keith cared a lot.

"But... but what if we all die because we were trying to be nice and talk things through? How do we know that... that we aren't all going to die?"

"We don't," Keith said simply, slowly. "We never know when we're going to die, though. That just means we have to do everything we can, and everything we want to do until then. We have to fight our hardest. Fight to the end. And protect those we care about."

Lance's breath hitched in his throat. He thought about all of that time that Keith had spent virtually alone with only Kosmo and Krolia. And how they must have wondered if each and every day that they were there, if it would be their last.

Lance thought about when he had... when he had died. And how if Allura hadn't been there, he wouldn't be _here_ now.

"I... I died once," Lance whispered softly.

Keith's eyes grew wide and he sucked in a breath.

"And I'm not talking about a mental 'the old me died'. I'm talking about... I was hit with a beam of energy and Allura pulled me back from the edge of death, dead."

Keith paused. "When... when was this?"

"While you were gone. When Lotor was around and we were gaining the trust of some of the Galra forces. But... but I'm here now."

Lance glanced at Keith out of the corner of his eye. He sort of looked like he was wanting to give Lance a hug. "Lance... I... I'm really _really_ glad that you're still here."

He looked away from Lance as though he didn't want him to see his face. Lance lowered his head.

But then Keith stood up and offered his hand to Lance. "How about we go fight them together, Lance?"

Lance smiled genuinely and took Keith's hand, gripping it and not letting go, even after he had stood up. "I... I would like that."

The fly there seemed to take no time.

But waiting for Lotor, _that_ took an eternity.

Lance couldn't help fidgeting. He kept glancing at the sky and then at the other paladins nervously. It seemed as though everyone else was perfectly calm.

But he knew that wasn't true which, honestly? calmed down his own nerves a bit.

He could see Pidge fidgeting with their tech, checking the different chemicals on the planet and the oxygen levels in their suit. He could see Allura clasping and unclasping her hands. Hunk was rocking back and forth slightly. Shiro was staring at the sky, searching for _any_ signs of Lotor's ship. And Keith was playing with his Blade of Marmora. Krolia had given it back to him, telling him to fight with it for all he's worth if it came to that.

Silence had fallen on the planet. No one dared to talk. Through their helmets, it was hard to even hear the crunch of their feet on the dirt below or the whistle of the wind from nearby.

But when Lotor's ship did arrive, flying in and setting down several hundred meters away, Lance's breath caught in his throat again and he found it hard to breathe. The planet was filled with whooshing wind and clouds of dust.

It was time.

They stepped forward as a group as Lotor approached them, wearing the same suit he had been wearing when they had fought in their robeasts all those years ago.

"Lotor!" Shiro called out, his voice carrying over the wind and through Lance's comm. "Why have you come here? What do you plan to discuss with us?"

"I want to-" Lotor started, his voice sounding oily in Lance's ears. But... then he stopped. And once again he was clutching at his head, falling down to his knees .

"Lotor?!" Lance cried out without even thinking about it. He didn't want to help him, but he also couldn't stand the sight of anyone in pain like that. In pain like Shiro had been in.

Lance thought about how Shiro, the real Shiro, had called out to him. How Lance had missed it. How Shiro turning against the team was _his_ fault. He had never really let himself think about it before but now that he was, it was _painful_.

If Lance was in the state of mind to think things through, he _never_ would have done what he did. He never would have run towards Lotor.

But in his mind, he saw Shiro.

And he saw a second chance to make things right.

And he ran.

~Allura

Allura saw Lance running towards Lotor after he collapsed and she was stunned.

How could he be running to help?

Or was he worried that this was a ploy and he was actually being really smart about trying to detain Lotor?

Lance slowed down and paused in front of Lotor.

Through the comms, Allura could hear Lance speaking softly. "Lotor? Lotor?"

"LANCE!"

Allura whipped her head around and saw Keith running after Lance, maybe a few seconds behind him.

Allura was stunned, but then she was running too.

"Stay back!" She called out to the other three Paladins, throwing her arm out as though she were going to hold them back by force.

As far as she could tell, they listened to her this time and let her take over and protect them.

She ran towards Lance and Keith but as she got close, she knew that something was wrong.

Lotor was staring straight ahead— straight at her. His eyes were switching from milky white to shades of purple swirling together.

"A... Allura?" he said vaguely as though he were far away.

"What should we do?" Lance asked frantically. "I don't know what to do!"

"We should take him to the Atlas and detain him for questioning," Keith offered.

Allura ignored both of them and knelt down before Lotor. "Lotor? Are... what do you remember?"

Lotor's breathing was labored and thick. "I-" he grunted as though every syllable caused him pain to utter. "I... remember us... fighting... and white... and eternity... and- and... we k-kissed..." he fumbled. "W-working... together...but... Honerva!"

"Lotor..." Allura interrupted softly. "Could I... would you be alright if I tried to heal your mind?"

She looked up at Lance and Keith who were holding their breaths, standing above her, listening.

Lance nodded first, encouraging her to try. She saw him glance back at Shiro and wondered if he was thinking about him and when this happened to him.

Keith was a bit slower to respond but he, too, looked back at Shiro and then nodded to her.

If she could heal Lotor's mind, he might only want to destroy them. But there was a slight chance that he would remember all of the good memories as well.

Allura looked down at Lotor and he was moving his head, slowly, up and down. Nodding to her. "Please... please help..." he whispered. When she looked she could see tears were falling down his cheeks as he spoke, thumping on the glass of his helmet.

Slowly, still uncertain, Allura moved to try to touch Lotor's temples. She grabbed the side of his helmet and tried to feel his mind through it but she couldn't.

"Pidge?" Allura asked through the comms.

"Yeah?"

"How long could someone survive without their helmet in this air?"

Pidge paused, probably calculating. "I would wager about an hour."

"Thank you. That should be more than enough time."

Allura looked back to Lotor. "I'm going to take off your helmet so I can try to heal your mind."

"Yes," Lotor choked out. She couldn't fathom the kind of pain that he was in.

Slowly, Allura pulled the helmet off of his head and immediately, Lotor gasped at the change in air.

Quickly, Allura grabbed Lotor's temples trying to get her mind to focus on reading his mind and repairing his thoughts.

But before she could, Lotor's head fell from between her fingers and he was a crumpled pile on the ground. His head was thrashing around and he was mumbling to himself, his eyes perfectly closed.

"Is he okay?!" Hunk asked through the comm.

"I... I don't know!" Allura cried panicked.

"It's okay," Keith said slowly. He might just have started to have a memory. Maybe you touching him helped to jog his memory."

"We should take him back onto the ship," Lance advised, placing a hand on Allura's shoulder.

"Yeah... okay," Allura said stepping back. "Let's get him into air and see if he wakes up anytime soon... maybe I can help more later."

Keith and Lance nodded, both bending down to lift Lotor up onto their shoulders, wrapping one of his arms around each of there's.

They walked back to the ship with Allura explaining the details as best as she could.

Shiro was trying to console her and Pidge was telling her that he wouldn't die from the air and it wasn't a shock... probably.

Still Allura was more nervous than she should have been as they carried Lotor onto the Atlas. Not only was she worried about their abilities to help him, she was worried that he was setting up a trap.

Or that Honerva was.


End file.
